Overcoming All Obstacles
by momoko775PennilessPoetess
Summary: (Finished!!)High school senior Christian fell in love with the new girl, Satine, at first sight. But he soon learns of her not-so-innocent stripping job and her rich (forced-to-marry) fiance who would do anything to make her his, forever.
1. Chapter One

Christian James sighed as he leaned his chin on his hand. Halfway to go. . . half of the year was over. At the beginning of the year he had been sending out college applications, and none of them had yet written back. He feared that he was chained to this small California town forever, and ever, and ever. . .  
  
The energy drained out of him as he imagined never moving, going to the community college a few miles away and picking up his practice in the community. He wanted to get far away from here, away from his father who was too overbearing and wintry. His temper matched his sunburned nose.  
  
But if no college offers came in, he'd be stuck here forever. The James family didn't exactly have a million dollars to their name. His brother, Jacek, would get a soccer scholarship most definitely, but Christian. . .  
  
He looked away with another sigh and toward the chalk board, where the assignment was written. Problems twelve through seventy-two, every third.  
  
He clicked twice at the end of his pencil and set to work with number twelve. He usually was a math whiz, but after ignoring Mr. Woodard in the Calculus lesson, he had no clue what the answer was.  
  
In fact, he couldn't remember anything. He just stared at his book, a cloud coming over his brain. He couldn't move at all, except to bite his lip in frustration. And then he felt cold, even though it was a sunny day and he was right next to the window. He felt so alone and so cold.  
  
"Hey, you got number twelve done yet, Einstein?" Nini whispered behind him, leaning forward in her seat to see his notebook.  
  
Christian rubbed his arm, wishing he had worn the sweater that he mother almost always insisted he wear before leaving the house. His heart seemed heavy, and he felt this overwhelming feeling that made him want to break down and cry.  
  
The classroom door swung open, and with it Christian's sad and lonely feelings were washed away. He straightened up, and dragged in a large breath and scratched the back of his head with his mechanical pencil.  
  
"Hey, Einstein. don't ignore me, I know you hear me." Nini tapped his shoulder impatiently.  
  
Christian sighed and turned to look at her, but one glance at the door made him hold his breath.  
  
The principal strolled into the room, followed by the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had long, wavy red hair and milky white skin. Her sad green eyes scanned the room cautiously, landing on Christian. A smile began to form on her pink lips as Christian looked her over from head to toe - something he hardly ever did. She was wearing a black mini skirt with a red top, and a necklace with a few diamonds on it.  
  
Christian felt his cheeks burn as he stared into her eyes and felt a smile of his own coming over his lips. She looked so unfamiliar, yet her face sent a tingle down his spine and the cloud coming over his brain once again.  
  
"Class," the principal spoke, "this is Miss Satine Desmer. She just moved here, and she'll be in your class for the rest of the year."  
  
Satine bit her lip and looked away at the drooling stares that she was getting from the male portion of the class, and the envious ones from the females.  
  
"Well, it's good to have you in my class Miss Desmer," Mr. Woodard said, unaffectionatly. "Since you missed my lesson, you'll have to have one of the students explain it to you. Mr. James!"  
  
Christian snapped his head up. "Yeah?" he asked, straightening up.  
  
"Mr. James, please explain the lesson to our new student. You're the only one who seems to pay attention. Homework is on the board." Grumbling under his breath, Mr. Woodard sat back down at his desk and opened his book of Math figures and equations.  
  
"Um. . ." Christian slowly rose form his desk, staring into Satine's eyes. He picked up his notebook, pencil and book and slowly walked toward her. When he was a few steps from her, he stopped and his mind went blank again. "Uh. . . hello."  
  
"Hello," she whispered.  
  
"Oh, get on with it!" the teacher yelled, waving his hand impatiently at them.  
  
Christian nodded nervously and led them to the back of the room where there were empty seats. He somehow figured out how to do the problems by looking at them, and explained it the best way he could, hoping his words were coherent. The cloud returned to his brain when she smiled and laughed a bit.  
  
"Well, um. . ." he began, but couldn't finish his sentence.  
  
"Why don't we work on the homework together?" Satine suggested, blushing a bit.  
  
Christian nodded, hoping not too eagerly, and before he knew it the end bell had rung and students were rushing out of the classroom.  
  
"I have to go," she said quietly, slinging her bag on her back. "But it's nice to meet you."  
  
Before Christian could get another word out, she had rushed to the door. He jumped up from his seat and grabbed his bag, and headed out after her. In the hallway, he found a large mass of his classmates, and he searched the crowd, finally spotting the flip of red turn a corner, and he sped past people, profusely muttering "I'm sorry. . .excuse me."  
  
He burst out the front doors and looked around, and sighed when he saw a silver convertible drive away, red hair waving in the wind.  
  
Christian raked his fingers through his hair. "Who IS she?" he wondered outloud. ------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz. Sorry, can't spell the last name. And the teacher, Mr. Woodard, he's this teacher at school. . . so obsessed with math and really mean. Just thought I should put him in.  
  
A/N: Ok, sorry. the first chapter is kind of weak, but it will get better!!! I swear! Please R&R! 


	2. Chapter Two

Satine lifted her arms in the air, feeling the wind whip over them. She closed her eyes and felt she was flying in the speeding silver convertible. She always dreamt of flying, and today as a smile came over her lips she felt it was just within her reach. His face was so warm, so familiar. . .  
  
She quickly shook her head. 'It's just an infatuation,' she assured herself. True, Christian James was cute; with dark hair and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, with an adorable dimple in his chin, a grin that sent the corners of her mouth turned up, a stutter and a blush when ever she looked into those beautiful eyes, that send butterflies dancing in her stomach. . . but he was just a guy.  
  
Satine sighed and twisted her fingers in her lap.  
  
"So, how was your first day of public school, chickpea?"  
  
She looked at Harold, clutching the leather steering wheel with one hand and curling one side of his moustache with the other. Sighing, she looked out the window. "It was fine."  
  
"Well I hope you didn't get too much homework. I need you to work late tonight."  
  
"Harold!" she snapped, glaring at him for a moment before biting her fingernails, a nervous habit. "You promised me that I could get some time off. . . that I could do some acting-"  
  
"Pigeon! I know I told you that, and daddy always keeps his promises." Satine laughed, disgusted. "But I didn't say you could quit. You're the best one I've got. . ."  
  
"I know," she whispered. "It's just-"  
  
"Let's see what's on the radio, shall we?" Harold cut her off, flipping on the radio.  
  
A familiar beat of Kylie Minogue pulsed out of the speakers and Harold drummed on the steering wheel. "You hear this, chickpea?" he asked. "This could be you on the air!"  
  
Satine shrugged and looked back out the window as the lyrics weaved into her mind.  
  
"Thought that I was going crazy.  
  
Just having one those days, yeah.  
  
Didn't know what to do,  
  
Then there was you.  
  
And everything went from wrong to right,  
  
And the stars came out and filled up the sky.  
  
The music you were playing really blew my mind.  
  
It was love at first sight.  
  
'cause baby when I heard you,  
  
For the first time I knew,  
  
We were meant to be as one.  
  
Was tired of running out of luck,  
  
Thinking 'bout giving up, yeah.  
  
Didn't know what to do,  
  
Then there was you.  
  
And everything went from wrong to right,  
  
And the stars came out and filled up the sky.  
  
The music you were playing really blew my mind.  
  
It was love at first sight."  
  
Angrily, Satine reached over and switched the radio off.  
  
Christian tried to do his homework that night, but all he could think about was. . .her. He smiled as he remembered that wild red hair and those pale lips, those green eyes, that laugh, that mini skirt and that red top. . .  
  
He buried his head in his hands, growling. "What is WRONG with you?!" he demanded out loud.  
  
He raised his head again and pushed his pencil to his paper, leaning closer to examine the math problem. . .and he smelt vanilla lingering in the book and he was drunk in her scent.  
  
He scrubbed his face with his palm, reaching over to turn his radio on.  
  
"It's a little bit funny this feeling inside.  
  
I'm not one of those who can easily hide.  
  
I don't have much money, but, boy if I did,  
  
I'd buy a big house where we both could live.  
  
If I was a sculptor, but then again, no.  
  
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show.  
  
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do.  
  
My gift is my song, and this one's for you."  
  
Christian rose from his chair and sang along with the radio, picking up a Raggedy Anne doll that his sister had left in his room and began dancing with it across the room. "And you can tell everybody this is your song. It may be quite simple, but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words. . .How wonderful life is while you're in the world. I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss." He kicked his foot in the air and jumped onto his bed. "Well a few of the verses, well they've got me quite cross. But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song. It's for people like you that keep it turned on."  
  
He looked into the face of Raggedy Anne. "So excuse me forgetting but these things I do, you see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue. Anyway the thing is, what I really mean, yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen. And you can tell everybody this is your song, It may be quite simple but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words, how wonderful life is while you're in the-"  
  
Christian's bedroom door swung open and he froze in place, dipping Raggedy Anne and about to kiss her, and his older brother Jacek walked in. His dark brows were pinched together as he looked at Christian.  
  
"We really need to find you a girlfriend," Jacek muttered, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.  
  
Weeks went by, and every day Christian looked forward to last hour Calculus class, and held his breath when he saw her, and only got out a numb 'Hello' before the bell rang for class to begin.  
  
"I really don't know what to do," Christian admitted to his friends at lunch. "I like her. . .I can't really explain it, but I just can't talk to her. I freeze up every time."  
  
Henri smiled. "Awe you in wuv?!" the midget with a lisp wondered.  
  
"I don't know. . ." Christian admitted. "Love. . ."  
  
"I was in love once," Michael said, putting up a finger. "But, alas, it was an impossible love. . ."  
  
"Well you didn't expect your freshman English teacher to start dating you, did you?" Christian asked.  
  
"The hills are alive, with the sound of music. . ."  
  
The three of them looked to the Doctor. They didn't really know his name, just called him the Doctor. He was too drunk all the time, and never really went to class much, but he somehow made it into his senior year.  
  
"The green fairy. . .she calls to me."  
  
"That's. . .great," Christian said, looking away and sticking his mystery meet with his fork.  
  
"Awe you twying out fow the school pway, Cwistian?" Henri asked.  
  
"Oh, I had almost forgotten about that," Christian admitted. "When are they?"  
  
"The giwls had them yesterday, and the guy's awe aftew school today. You coming?"  
  
"Yeah, or course! What are we doing?"  
  
"The gweatest love story evew told. Womeo and Juwiet."  
  
Christian smiled. "Sounds great. I'll be there."  
  
After school, Christian, Henri and Michael all walked to the auditorium to fill out an audition form and pick up a script. They walked backstage and practiced, waiting for their turn on stage.  
  
Finally, the drama director had called Christian's name and he walked out on stage with the script in his hand.  
  
He cleared his throat and began to read from his script. "O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you."  
  
He looked up and searched the crowd, and in the front row on the auditorium sat Satine, her red hair pulled back off of her face with just strands across her face. Her green eyes sparkled and there was a soft smile on her lips.  
  
Christian took in a small breath and suddenly words came out of his mouth. "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" he whispered, his eyes on Satine. "It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!" He rose his hand to his mouth and laughed a little. "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."  
  
"Christian. . .James?" someone asked.  
  
Christian looked away from Satine and to the middle of the auditorium where a gray-haired woman was chewing the end of her pen.  
  
"Yes?" he asked.  
  
"I thought you were trying out for the part of Mercutio."  
  
He blushed. "I thought so too. . . I'm so sorry."  
  
"No! No. . .don't be sorry. You got the part." She stood as Christian began to grin wildly. "Mr. James, meet Miss. Desmer. She'll play Juliet."  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz. Sorry, can't spell the last name.  
  
A/N: Hey, got this done the same night as the first chapter. . .that's so cool! Well I hope it's not that bad. Please R&R!  
  
Songs used: 'Love At First Sight' by Kylie Minogue, 'Your Song' by Elton John 


	3. Chapter Three

That night when he got home, he happily told his parents that he had made the part of Romeo. His mother, beaming, sent off into the kitchen to prepare a special dinner, while Christian was left alone with his father, brother and little sister.  
  
"Wat's Womeo and Juwiet, Cwis?" his little sister Nicole asked, sucking on her thumb.  
  
Christian smiled at his four year old sister as he sat down on the couch. "Well, it's about love."  
  
"Wove?" she asked, crawling into his lap.  
  
"It's about love. . .overcoming all obstacles."  
  
His dad snorted in his favorite la-z-boy chair and turned the page of his newspaper. "Always this ridiculous obsession with love," he mumbled.  
  
Jacek laughed. "Chris, you've never even been in love. You just spend all your time with that dwarf. What's his name?"  
  
Christian took a deep breath to keep his cool. "Henri."  
  
"Ah yes, Henri. I'm sure he'll make you a great wi-" Jacek's eyes crossed and he fell to the floor.  
  
Christian and Nicole covered their smiles and laughs with their hands as their father tried to revive their narcoleptic brother.  
  
Satine slowly stepped out of her car and climbed the steps to her apartment. Reaching 3B she put her key in the hole and turned it, locking it harshly behind her. She walked past the red carpet into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips and a Diet Pepsi.  
  
There was a knock at the door. "Chickpea?" Harold called from the other side. "How did the audition go?"  
  
She sat down on the couch and placed her food on the coffee table. "It was fine," she answered. "I. . .I got the part of Juliet."  
  
"Well that's fantastic! But why they needed two tryout dates I don't understand."  
  
Satine bit her lip. She had lied about that to get out of working tonight. "Yeah, well, I guess that's how it works."  
  
"Well would you like to come over? Marie and I have dinner-"  
  
"Oh, no thank you," she answered, eating a chip. "I'm really tired, anyway," she lied.  
  
"Well. . .I'll see you at work tomorrow, then. Everyone missed you tonight. You're the best I've got."  
  
Satine heaved in a breath as she lay her head on a pillow. "Yeah, I bet everyone missed me."  
  
She pulled the small quilt from the back of the couch and pulled it over her. This was not how she wanted to spend her life, cramped in a small apartment, eating potato chips for dinner. She wanted to be free, to fly away, to be an actress.  
  
"I follow the night," she sang. "Can't stand the light. When will I begin to live again? One day I'll fly away. Leave all this to yesterday." She felt a smile form on her lips at the idea, but then thought of Christian's grinning face, and her sad expression turned into a bright one.  
  
She laughed at her sudden change of mood. He did bad things to her mind. . . things that would drag her away from her dream, the only thing she wanted. "What more could your love do for me?" She sighed. "When will love be through with me? Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming ends. One day I'll fly away. Leave all this to yesterday. Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming ends. One day I'll fly away, fly, fly away."  
  
She fell asleep, curled up in her blanket.  
  
Christian stopped in the hall when he saw her, yanking on the small bar of her locker. "Stupid thing," she said, kicking the bottom.  
  
"Can I. . .be of some assistance?" he asked shyly, slowly moving toward her.  
  
She looked up and for a brief second she smiled. "Oh, hey Romeo," she whispered. "Yeah, if you could help that'd be great. I can never get this stupid thing to work."  
  
"You see, you're going into this all wrong. The trick is to think like a locker. BE the locker."  
  
She laughed. "Be the locker?"  
  
"Well. . .yeah." He blushed. "It sure isn't easy being a locker, demanding all day long and holding all of our things."  
  
"I. . .I suppose." She stroked the front of the locker with her hand. After a few moments she laughed. "I feel so stupid."  
  
"But you're bonding. That's the important thing."  
  
She smiled. "Yes, but it still won't open to give me my script. And practice starts soon."  
  
"Have no fear, my lady Juliet. Your Romeo is hear to save the day." She laughed and moved aside and soon enough, opened the locker. "See, all you need is some tenderness."  
  
"Well, thank you." She reached in and grabbed her script from the top shelf.  
  
"Oh, hey. . ."  
  
"Yes?" Satine asked.  
  
"Well, I. . .I was just wondering. . .since we are the two main people in this play together. . .why don't we, uh, get together some time?" She looked at him amusingly. "Well, you know, to go over the lines."  
  
She looked down at the ground and bit her lip. "I don't think so," she whispered.  
  
"Oh. Oh, well, yes. Silly of me to think that you would want to-"  
  
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed, touching his arm. "It's not that I don't want to. It's just that I. . .work, a lot. Almost every day."  
  
"Aren't there laws against that?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know, but. . .I can't. I'm sorry."  
  
And before Christian could say another word, she had left.  
  
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend William Shakespeare.  
  
A/N: Ok, I suppose I could go on and make more chapters out of this.. oh well, I'll just see what you guy's think of this before I continue. I was actually meaning to make this whole thing different, but the way it came out was just dandy I think. Hope you liked this! Please R&R!  
  
Songs used: 'One Day I'll Fly Away' written by Will Jennings and Joe Sample 


	4. Chapter Four

"Well, that was a great rehearsal, everyone." The gray-haired drama teacher, Mrs. Wrobeleski, rose from her seat in the audience. "We'll meet again tomorrow from 5:00 to 8:30. Now go home!" she laughed.  
  
Christian smiled as he turned his head, hoping to catch the eye of his leading lady as he did often. But he didn't see her in the spot by the wooden fountain that the stage crew made for the orchard scene.  
  
"She probably went to go change," he murmured under his breath, itching the sleeve of his white ruffled shirt, and heading toward the boy's dressing room.  
  
He threw his costume off as quick as he could and grabbed his clothes, pulling his shirt over his head as he opened the door and walked backstage to wait outside the door of the girl's dressing room.  
  
A few seconds later the door opened and Christian looked up, seeing Ariana (who played the nurse) and getting an embarrassing glimpse of a few girls pulling shirts over their chests.  
  
Blushing he took a few steps back away from the door. "Ariana?" he asked. "Is Satine still in there? Well, I mean, not that I'm really looking for her or anything. I just want to ask her, uh. . ." His mind went blank. Why WAS he waiting for her? He wasn't really certain why and what he'd say to her.  
  
"Satine?" Ariana asked, brushing locks of black hair off of her shoulder. "Naa. . .she left right after practice. . .took her costume too. Said she had to be at work real soon."  
  
Christian felt his heart sink.  
  
"But she might still be in the parking lot if you hurry."  
  
He didn't need another second and he bolted out of the auditorium and scanned the parking lot and saw the wave of red hair pulling out of the school in a rusty old blue car. She turned to the left and sped off on the abandoned road.  
  
Christian ran to his beat up silver truck and went left.  
  
"What are you gonna say to her, huh?" he demanded of himself, raking his hand through his fingers. " 'I was just on my way home and I just. . .' " He heaved a large breath. "Moron, you live in the other direction. And you're the worst liar, she'll know something's up." He thought back to his mother's advice on the situation - let her know you like her, focus your attention on her. He laughed. "I don't think she meant to stalk her."  
  
The blue car turned ahead into a packed parking lot and Christian pulled into it, scanning all around for a sign of her or her car. He left his car in a spot and ran quickly toward the building, the pulsing rhythm's becoming louder with each step. He briefly looked up at the sign on the building, The Red Room, before opening the door and being assaulted with a loud wave of music.  
  
He didn't even know there was a dance club here. He didn't have a job yet, but this place seemed like a good place. And with Satine working here too. . .he smiled with delight as he opened the second door and saw shadows of people dancing in the corners very closely.  
  
"What'll it be, tiger?" someone asked in his ear. Christian jumped back and saw that in front of him stood an older woman - 23 maybe - wearing wet, white negligee. Pinching his eyebrows in confusion, he backed away, running into someone.  
  
"Oh, I'm so-" he started, but then caught sight of the woman he bumped into. She was standing in a black leather thong and a triangle bra of the same material.  
  
"Oh, don't be sorry," the woman said putting a finger to his lips. "This just might be you're lucky day."  
  
"I-I don't think so."  
  
She began to wrap her arms around him, but he pushed her away, deciding that this was definitely NOT a dance club or where his beautiful, sweet, perfect Satine worked.  
  
He started for the door, but the lights began to dim and he was in the darkness and couldn't see a thing. He tried to reach his hand out, but decided he shouldn't do that in this kind of place. He was frantically looking around in the dark, but suddenly he was paralyzed by a high-pitched note.  
  
He slowly turned around, but still couldn't see a thing. He started breathing hard, something unsettling in the beautiful voice he heard. He felt his longing that he had the first day of school matching in her, and something in his heart told him that she was a creature of the cold night, longing for the same fire he longed for.  
  
"How are you all doing tonight?" the voice purred, as everyone around The Red Room yelled and hollered. "That well, huh? Well then I suppose you don't need me."  
  
Her voice trailed off as men wined and chanted 'Diamond! Diamond!'. Christian blinked in the dark as he scanned the blackness for any sign of the owner of the most beautiful voice he had ever head before.  
  
A spotlight turned on from above Christian and he followed the beam of light to a stage at the front, where a woman stood with her back facing the audience, one foot propped up against a black wooden chair. Long, wavy red hair flowed over a black diamond corset. Fishnet stockings hug her slim, milky white legs and Christian wiped his chin, finding himself drooling.  
  
"Well, because you asked nicely. . ." she said, glancing her pale face over her shoulder. She winked and ran her tongue across her red lips. "Meet you in the red room, close the door and dim the lights." She sat on her black chair and leaned over, flashing a chest-full of cleavage. "I will be yours truly if indeed the price is right. So throw your sword, be my king, let your passions rise and sing." she raised her foot to the chair as she struck a high note. "Just show me the diamonds and I'll let you wear my ring."  
  
She kicked the chair away, leaving the stage empty except for a few silver poles for strippers to swing on. "So just lay down beside you let us consummate. I know you're bursting so let me help you deflate." She laid her head on the stage, peaking at the audience over the side and reaching out for an old man's tie. He stood up, holding large wads of money in his hands, and she touched the sides of his face. "If you want to plug in for a high voltage connection, show me cold, hard cash and I will turn on my affection." She moaned as she turned over and wrapped her legs around a pole on stage. "I'll let you just a little... So don't hesitate I won't kiss and tell. No need to worry Cause I'm, I'm a professional. The show can start as soon as I see money on the table. I've an empty space to fill I'm willing , if you're able."  
  
She moaned again. "I'll let you repeat just a little. I'll meet you in the red room, close the door and dim the lights. I'll meet you in the red room close the door and dim the lights. I will be yours truly if indeed the price is right." She danced across to the other side of the stage, and Christian pushed yelling fans out of the way to get a better look at her.  
  
"So throw your sword, be my king let your passions rise and sing. Just show me the diamonds and I'll let you wear my ring. I'll let you wear my ring. I'll let you wear my ring. I'll let you wear my ring. Meet you in the red room."  
  
Christian was almost at the stage where she was pointing a finger at the audence, as if deciding who was the lucky winner of the night. "Meet you in the red room." She pointed to someone, who stood, grinning wildly, but then she shook her head and moved on in the crowd. "Meet you in the red r-" Her eyes landed on Christian and he felt his pulse quicken. Her green eyes flashed and he saw her seductive smile fade away to a frown and her chin quivered. A tear fell from her eye as she backed away, still looking at him, and ran behind the black curtain.  
  
  
  
  
  
Satine arrived for school early the next morning, wearing jean shorts, a baggy gray sweatshirt and a messy ponytail. She was huddled with her backpack in a corner by the auditorium, looking away from the people that passed, hoping she was invisible from their eyes.  
  
She rubbed her eyes, red from crying last night after getting a tongue lashing from Harold. Her ears still hurt from his shouting, and her knuckles from gripping the arms of a chair.  
  
"Satine?" said a voice.  
  
Satine slowly looked up, and a smile slowly formed when she saw Christian. "H-Hello."  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked, setting his bag down and sitting down behind her.  
  
Satine shook her head, but then thought better of it and forced a smile. "I'll be fine. Just had a fight with my. . . uncle, that's all."  
  
"What was it about?"  
  
She looked away from his concerned eyes and hid her head in her hands. 'This is it,' she thought, beginning to cry. 'He knows. . .'  
  
"S-Satine, what's the matter? You're shaking."  
  
"I. . ." He put his hand on her shoulder, and next she realized she was in arms, holding him tight with her head pressed up against his shoulder.  
  
Christian breathed on her hair, cautiously holding her closer. "Was something wrong at work? I-" Satine stiffened. "I tried to follow you, but I got lost." He laughed a bit. "I accidentally ended up in a strip club."  
  
Satine lifted her head, tears streaming down her face.  
  
"Maybe I shouldn't be a taxi driver for a living. Well, you know how in movies people say 'follow that car'? Well. . . I guess I can't even do that if I wanted to. But, you know, not that I really wanted to follow you. And- and not that I DID follow you, because I didn't. I was just. . . on my way home and, well. . ."  
  
Satine laughed as she leaned in and kissed him. His lips were warm, and expanded to melt the coldness in her body, out to her fingertips. It felt so good, kissing him, running her fingers through is hair. . .  
  
She whipped her head up when she realized what she was doing and tears flowed when she saw his confused face. "I'm sorry. . . so sorry. . ." she murmered, walking away.  
  
'What possessed me to kiss him?' she wondered slinging her bag over her back and pushing past people to get to her locker. It was a dangerous thing, she learned, to lead people on. . . 'But am I?'  
  
She stopped in the middle of the hall, more confused than she had ever been before in her life. She had always felt cold and alone, but in the moments she touched Christian she felt all her answers, all her hopes and dreams seem like reality.  
  
She laughed, wiping her eyes. "I can't fall in love."  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend William Shakespeare. Mrs. Wro(beleski) is the drama teacher at school and she is so sweet. I just couldn't think of anyone else directing a play I was 'a part of'.  
  
A/N: Ok, well I just got back from band camp and wrote this next chapter. And I guess you people don't think this sucks! Or if you do you don't review. Well anyway, thanks for the support, everyone. 


	5. Chapter Five

After school one day, all the cast and crew of Romeo and Juliet got together to paint the sets. Satine, dressed in an old white dress shirt and black soccer shorts, dipped her paintbrush in the green and set it on the backdrop.  
  
Christian sighed, watching her from a distance. His heart was beating fast and he smiled, happy just to watch her paint. She laughed as Ariana said something and turned her head, catching a slight glimpse of Christian. Her smile faded as she stared at him, and, biting her lip, she turned away.  
  
Christian raked a hand through his hair. The morning she kissed him was the best day of his life. Never before had he felt more alive and whole. She was so warm, so perfect. He looked down at his arms and felt empty and cold. He didn't feel complete before he held her in his arms. It was like she was the missing piece of his puzzle. "I love you," he whispered under his breath, walking toward her.  
  
Satine was looking away, her arms across her waist, painting a shrub.  
  
". . .and so I said, 'that's wasn't me, that was my mother you were talking to'!" Ariana broke out into hysterical laughter, while the people around her moderatly chuckled. "No, seriously, for real, you guy's. Like this one time. . ."  
  
"May I?" Christian whispered, sitting next to Satine and painting a flower next to the shrub she was working on.  
  
She dipped her brush back in the bucket. "So how are things?" she wondered quietly.  
  
"They're good," he said, starting on a purple flower. "Except. . ." He took a deep breath.  
  
He said nothing for a while, so she looked and briefly caught his eye. "Except what?"  
  
"Well, I have this thing. . ." Christian scratched the back of his head. "I've been, uh, wanting to check out that new pizza place downtown. Have. . . have you heard of it before?"  
  
She shook her head, her hands in her lap.  
  
"Well, I was just wondering. . . if you would like to. . . I mean, if you want to, if you would like-"  
  
"Stop." She looked up, her green eyes dull. "Please, don't do this. I can't."  
  
Christian looked confused. "Can't? You mean your father won't let you date?"  
  
She looked away. "I. . . I don't have a father. He died when I was seven. I've lived with. . . my uncle ever since."  
  
"Oh. . . Satine, I'm so sorry-"  
  
"No, no, it doesn't matter. That has nothing to do with it."  
  
"Well. . . then. . . what is it?" he asked as Ariana laughed again.  
  
"I don't need love," she whispered.  
  
"Don't need. . . What are you talking about? Everyone needs love! Love is like oxygen! Love is a many splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belongs."  
  
"Love is just a word, made up by those who sing about it!" she hissed, looking him square in the eyes.  
  
"Love is the most important thing in this world!"  
  
"I have lived the past ten years without it, and I'm doing pretty fine." A tear trickled from her eye.  
  
Christian reached up and dried her eyes. "Let me love you," he whispered, leaning in closer to kiss the tip of her nose. "Let me love you."  
  
She bit her lip as she closed her eyes. "Don't try something that can't be done."  
  
Satine picked up her bucket of green paint and moved away, as Christian promised himself to show her the reason that we are all living for.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend Will Shakespeare.  
  
A/N: Ok, this is very short, but just getting these out there and moving the story along. Please tell me what you think about this story. 


	6. Chapter Six

Christian reached behind the wooden columns and grabbed Satine's hand. She jumped slightly, her head down, looking over her shoulder. She smiled suddenly, but then looked away shyly.  
  
"If I profane with my unworthiest hand, my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."  
  
Satine suddenly pulled away and walked past him. "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much! Which mannerly devotion shows in this: for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss." She pressed her hand to his.  
  
Christian smiled. "Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?"  
  
"Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer."  
  
"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair." He started to lean in, but she moved away, laughing.  
  
"Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake."  
  
He caught her hand as she was about to go. "Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. . ." he trailed off in a whisper, placing his hands behind behind her back and pressing his lips to hers.  
  
Satine felt her lips quiver as she stared, dumfounded into his face.  
  
There was an awkward silence, Satine missing her line, so Christian placed his hand on her cheek and smiled. "O trespass sweetly urged," he whispered. "Give me my sin again."  
  
He closed the space between them swiftly, kissing her softly once, twice, and then going beyond a stage kiss and slipping his tongue in her mouth. A tear fell from Satine's eyes as she held on to him.  
  
She broke away by a loud crash from backstage. She took in a breath, still circled in his arms and searched into his eyes. "You kiss by the book," she breathed.  
  
Ariana rushed in, huffing, pulling on Satine's arm. "Madam, your mother craves a word with you."  
  
Satine ran off stage, and safe behind the curtain she raised her hand to her mouth to try and keep back the sobs, as the actors continued on the stage. She looked up briefly and saw Christian staring through her, his eyes sparkling with delight. He left the stage with a few others, and with a sigh she emerged again.  
  
"Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman?"  
  
Ariana looked where the actors had just exited. "I know not," she said.  
  
"Go, ask his name: if he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed."  
  
Ariana left, and emerged a few moments later. "His name is Romeo, and a Montague; The only son of your great enemy."  
  
Satine sighed as she leaned against a wooden column. "My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!"  
  
The lights dimmed and Satine ran off of the stage as she heard the director call, "Ok, that's a rap on today's rehersal. Tomorrow we'll go over where the lovers are discovered. . ."  
  
Satine flung open the dressing room door, but suddenly someone on the other side held it open.  
  
"Satine. . ." Christian pleaded, peaking his head over the door. "Please, talk to me."  
  
She backed up, leaning against the doorframe. "There's nothing to say."  
  
He shook his head. "When we're out there. . ." He took a step forward, backing her into the dressing room and letting the door close behind him. He encirlced her in his arms, his face inches from hers. "When I'm this close to you, when I'm touching you, when I kiss you, it's not pretend."  
  
She stared into his blue eyes, so full of hope. So full of answers and warmth that she wanted to melt into it blueness to maybe feel free.  
  
He rose his hand to her cheek as her chin quivered. "It's not pretend," he repeated, looking at her mouth, hungry.  
  
Satine took in a deep breath. "It's called acting, Christian." She pushed out of his grasp. "It's called acting," she muttered, searching around the small room for her clothes.  
  
"You can't mean that, Satine."  
  
"Can't I?" she demanded, picking her pants and shirt up.  
  
"You feel it too," he said, coming to her side and grasping her arm.  
  
"Let me go," she whispered, shrugging out of his hold. She took a couple deep breaths as she slammed her clothes onto the counter. "Why CAN'T it be pretend? Why can't it all just be an act?"  
  
"Because it's not," he whispered, looking into her eyes.  
  
She was lost into the ocean blue depths. For a long time, she had been all alone, all by herself. But he was someone, and the first to ever make her knees shake and chin quiver. He was the only one she had ever. . . She shook her head. "I can't," she whispered, pushing past him and out the door.  
  
  
  
  
  
Satine pulled into the parking lot and trudged the stairs up to her apartment. Just about to put the key in the lock, she was startled by a voice.  
  
"Duckling!" She turned and forced a smile at Harold. "There you are, I just heard you pull in!"  
  
"Hello," she whispered, working on the key again. "I'm really tired, so. . ."  
  
He ignored her and took her hand, leading her to his apartment. "How was your day?"  
  
She sighed. "Horrible."  
  
"Aww, Daddy knows just want to do for his little Chickpea," he said, hollering for his girlfriend, Marie, to make some hot tea.  
  
"No, Harold, actually, I'd just prefer to go to bed right now. . ."  
  
"But it's only 8:00! You can't go to bed now! I have the most wonderful news!"  
  
Satine sighed and sat down on the couch, trying to make herself comfortable Once Harold got to talking, there was no stopping until he was done. "And what is that?"  
  
"There is going to be a wedding around here!" he exclaimed excitedly, Marie coming to his side and giving her the cup of tea. She beamed.  
  
"Oh, Harold!" Satine said, truly surprised. "You're finally going to marry Marie?"  
  
Harold's eyebrows pinched together. "When did I ever say that I was tying the knot?"  
  
"Well, I. . ."  
  
Harold kissed Marie's cheek and she left to go into the bathroom and take a bath, as she always did at this time of night.  
  
"No, Gosling, I'm not the one getting married!"  
  
"Well, then. . ." She stopped in mid-sentence and her jaw dropped. "Oh, what did you do?"  
  
"You're getting married, darling! Isn't that wonderful?" he beamed, taking her hands and standing her up.  
  
Her arms and legs felt like rubber. "Wonderful?" she spat. "What the hell are you talking about? This is a nightmare! Tell me I'm dreaming, I beg of you!"  
  
"No!" he said, still smiling.  
  
"I. . ." She looked at the floor, searching for the right words. "I. . . I won't do it!"  
  
Harold finally dropped her hands and looked her square in the eyes. "Oh yes you will," he said sternly.  
  
"I will not!" she yelled.  
  
"I'll throw you onto the streets! You'll rot in a foster home for the rest of your days."  
  
She laughed. "And I'll be considered an adult in less than a year and able to go where I please."  
  
"I. . ." he looked, for once, stuck for words. He narrowed his eyes. "You WILL marry, my dear. You will WANT to. You know why?"  
  
She scoffed and crossed her arms, heading for the door. "Nothing could make me." She reached for the doorknob.  
  
"He's the son of a movie producer." Satine froze as he laughed a bit. "I knew you'd want to. He'd get you into the biz real fast."  
  
Satine was silent for a moment as she bit her fingernail. "What. . . what's his name?"  
  
"Robert Duken, son of-"  
  
"Stephen Duken," she interrupted. "Yeah, I've heard of him." She sighed. "Have I met the son?"  
  
"Well you most certainly have. Don't you remember? He was awfully rich."  
  
"They're all rich," she spat.  
  
Harold scoffed. "Well if you want to get huffy about it. . . He saw you one night performing, not that night when you ran off stage, thank God. Said he fell in love with you, and then you spend 'the most beautiful evening' with you, and offered for you this afternoon."  
  
"And you told him. . .?"  
  
"Well, of course I told him yes!"  
  
Satine glanced behind her shoulder, feeling sick with something she wasn't sure of. Being married into the family of movie producer. . . she'd be the top. All her dreams could come true finally, after so many years of suffering. But now there was something different than that in her heart. She bit her lip and opened the door, fumbled with her lock and fell down on the couch, crying.  
  
She hugged her pillow as she looked at the coffee table and turned on her laptop, her mouth pressed into the soft fabric. And as she logged onto the internet, the annoying 'You've Got Mail' sound popped up, and she clicked the mailbox.  
  
She froze when she saw the recipient's name of her only letter: Christian James.  
  
Satine bit her lip as she hugged the pillow to her for comfort, and slowly moved the mouse and clicked on the letter.  
  
"I'm sorry for everything I've said, and for anything I forgot to say. When things get so complicated I stumble at best, muddle through. I wish that our lives could be simple. I don't want the world, only you. oh I wish I could tell you this face to face, but there's never the time, never the place. So this letter will have to do. Satine. . . I love you."  
  
Satine broke down crying as she read. Stifled by sobs, she some how managed out, "I love you."  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend William Shakespeare. And, um. Stephen Duken is not a real producer, I just made him and his son up.  
  
A/N: Ok, well I guess it just got good. I never noticed before when I had this idea that Juliet had an arranged marriage, too, and that I decided to use that for this story. Hmm. . . strange. Well, I hope you guy's like this! It's been a while since I wrote, so I hope I'm not rusty. Started school last week(bleh!) and haven't had much time for my homies that I love! Don't stop being cool(and reviewing)!  
  
Songs used: No songs in the story, but Christian's letter was actually a song. 'Radames' Letter' from Aida. 


	7. Chapter Seven

"Ariana, we'll start from your line," the director said.  
  
Ariana nodded and adjusted her fat suit and headress. "An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish."  
  
Julie, the person playing Lady Capulet nodded. "Marry, that 'marry' is the very these I came to talk of." She took Satine's hand and they sat on a small bench. "Tell me, daughter Juliet, how stands your disposition to be married?"  
  
Satine looked down, biting her lip, trying to keep back the emotions. After a moment's pause, she rose her head. "It. . . it is an. . . an honor that I dream not of," she said between sobs.  
  
"Cut!" the director called. "Satine, may I see you for a second?" She rose from a seat in the audience.  
  
Nodding her head, Satine rose her hand to her mouth and walked down the stairs at the side of the auditorium, actor's eyes glued on her.  
  
"Satine," the director said softly, placing her hands on the student's shoulders. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about? Anything at all that's bothering you?"  
  
Satine forced a smile. "What-what do you mean?"  
  
"Just. . . if there's anything you'd like to talk about, and I mean anything, you can always come to me, all right?"  
  
The girl smiled and nodded. "Ok," she whispered.  
  
"Ok." The elderly director smiled. "Why don't you go backstage and rinse your face and have a little break, huh?"  
  
"That would be nice, thank you."  
  
She smiled again. "Ok everyone," she told the actors as Satine climbed the stairs and slipped behind the curtain. "We'll go to the beginning, and get the kinks out."  
  
Satine slowly turned on the faucet and cupped her hands under the water, letting it slowly splash on her face. She felt the cool water mix with her tears and wash them away. She rung her hands and turned the water off and glanced up at the mirror.  
  
"Why?" she whispered, drying her face off with a paper towel. "I. . . follow the night. Can't stand the light. When will I begin, to live again?"  
  
She took a breath and smoothed her dress costume and left the dressing room, walking down the hall slowly. She thought back to when she was on stage. All her thoughts seemed to melt away, and hadn't even been prepared until the word 'marriage'. It was her dream to be on stage. The lights beckoned her, the stage hugged her. . . everything told her this was how it was supossed to be. All that time on the stage, all that pain and sorrow, everything was focused to become an actress, to have her name known. . . but now that it was right there in front of her, within her grasp, she felt sick.  
  
"What more could you're love do for me?" she wondered. She didn't remember the Duken son very much, other than it was a dull night, quick too soon, and as always she had slipped out while he was sleeping.  
  
"When will love be through with me?" All these feelings were creeping up on her suddenly and were spinning her head. Before it was so easy from going from one man to the other, not caring a bit for them, to make her more famous and rich. But all it made her feel was empty inside, not happier. "Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming. . . ends."  
  
"Is that really what you believe?"  
  
Satine whirled around and found herself eye-to-eye with Christian. He was so close, within arm distance. She once again felt so cold. His arms were right there, so close. She longed to drape them around her, her heart ached just seeing him.  
  
"Christian. . ." she whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head to his chest.  
  
"I. . ." Slowly, he lowered his arms and held her.  
  
Satine snuggled into his shoulder, feeling his warmth seep into her. "Don't let me go." She was afraid she'd turn to ice if he let go.  
  
"Satine, I. . ."  
  
She lifted her head and put a finger to his lips. "Don't talk. Move not, while my prayer's take effect." Before she fully knew what she was doing, she pressed her lips to his, raking her hands through his hair, moaning softly.  
  
And he responded beautifully, slipping in his tongue and pulling her closer, hands behind her neck.  
  
As their lips parted, he sighed. "I love you," he whispered, forehead pressed to hers.  
  
She glanced up to his eyes and forced a smile. "You shouldn't."  
  
He grinned widely. "I can't help it. . . you have me under your spell." He bit his lip and paused for a bit. "Do you. . . do you love me?"  
  
She forced a laugh and turned away from his grasp. "Christian, I told you before. . . I can't."  
  
"Why not?" he demanded, stepping in front of her.  
  
"I can't fall in love."  
  
"But a life without love. . . that's terrible!"  
  
She whirled around. "No! Being cold and starving is!" To be level headed was to be safe. To love was reckless, and she pushed her hysterical feelings for him aside.  
  
"Love is a many splendored thing. Love. . . lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!" He grinned.  
  
She sighed. "Please, don't start that again."  
  
"All you need is love," he sang, taking her hands. "All you need is love! All you need is love!"  
  
She sighed and dropped her hands from his. "Love is just a game," she insisted.  
  
"I was made for loving you, baby. You were made for loving me."  
  
"The only way of loving me baby, Is to pay a lovely fee," she whispered, looking back to see if he heard it.  
  
"Just one night, just one night."  
  
She shook her head. "There's no way, 'cause you can't pay."  
  
He took her hands again and twirled her on the cold cement floor. "In the name of love, one night in the name of love."  
  
She broke free. "You crazy fool, I won't give in to you." She started to move toward the door, but his voice broke into her intuition of walking away.  
  
"Don't...leave me this way," he called softly, and she slowly turned around as he came closer to her and rested his palm on her cheek. "I can't survive, without your sweet love, oh baby. Don't leave me this way."  
  
She stared into his eyes. "You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs."  
  
"I look around me and I see it isn't so."  
  
"Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs."  
  
He was staring at her mouth, coming closer as he sang, "Well, what's wrong with that? I'd like to know."  
  
As he was almost to her lips she moved away. " 'Cause, here I go again!" He jumped up on a stage latter and flung his arms in the air. "Love lifts us up where we belong! Where eagles fly on a mountain high."  
  
"Love makes us act like we are fools, throw our lives away, for one happy day."  
  
He jumped down from the latter. "We could be heroes, just for one day."  
  
She laughed and shook her head. "You. . . you will be mean."  
  
"No, I won't," Christian insisted.  
  
She ignored his words. "And I...I'll drink all the time." She thought of the worst turn-off she could think of.  
  
He laughed at her expression. "We should be lovers!"  
  
Satine looked up suddenly, staring into his eyes, but then looked away. "We can't do that," she whispered, remembering the 'good news' Harold had told her.  
  
"We should be lovers, and that's a fact."  
  
She looked up, his warm blue eyes glowing, so full of hope and warmth. Never had she seen more wonderful eyes. "Though nothing will keep us together," she insisted.  
  
"We could steal time, just for one day." He took off his fossil watch and took out the pin, tossing it to the floor.  
  
Satine smiled. He had stopped time, just so they could be in love.  
  
"We could be heroes, forever and ever," they sang, Christian putting his hands on her waist. "We could be heroes, forever and ever. We could be heroes."  
  
"Just because I will always love you!" he belted, his words so confincing.  
  
She smiled. "And I can't help loving you." She looked once more into his eyes before whispering, a song that came to her mind suddenly, "How wonderful life is. . ."  
  
"Now you're in the world," he finished, closing in the space between their mouths.  
  
She was in heaven, pulling him closer, touching his neck, his hair. His hands were warm across her back, and she felt that nothing could ever be wrong. But. . .  
  
Satine lifted her head suddenly. "No," she whispered.  
  
Christian narrowed her eyebrows. "No? But what about all we just said? What about. . .?"  
  
She smoothed his hair. "Darling, there are things you don't know about me. . . things you wouldn't like."  
  
"I don't care," he whispered, brushing back a few strands of hair. "Everything about you. . . I love it so."  
  
She bit her lip and turned away from his eyes to think more clearly. "You remember that night when you followed me out of the auditorium? And you went to a strip club?"  
  
Christian smiled behind her back. "Yeah. . ."  
  
"Well, I saw you there that night."  
  
"Then. . . then you do work th-" He stopped suddenly and shook his head, pacing. "No, no, no, no-"  
  
Satine looked over her shoulder and whispered, "Yes." She took in a deep breath, and then sang softly, "Meet you in the red room, close the door and dim the lights. I will be yours truly if indeed the price is ri-"  
  
"Stop," he said quietly, his hand on his face. "They. . . they called you diamond."  
  
"I'm the Sparkling Diamond of the Red Room."  
  
"And your family? What do they think of this?"  
  
"My parents are dead. And. . . Uncle Harold owns the place."  
  
"You mean he let's his own NEICE. . . do. . .?"  
  
Satine wiped away a few tears. "Yes," she whispered, looking down. "I sell myself for money, I'm a hooker, I'm a prostitute, I'm a courtesan. Whatever you'd like to call me."  
  
He looked up suddenly at her. "But. . . you can't be."  
  
She nodded. "The night you came to the Red Room, I saw you, looked right into your eyes and cried. And I ran off stage."  
  
Christian shook his head. "No. No. No, you are not-"  
  
"Hey, you guy's are still here?" Ariana asked, still standing in her fat suit. "Director ended the rehearsal a couple minutes ago."  
  
"Thanks," Satine said, forcing a smile. "In just a minute."  
  
Ariana nodded and left.  
  
There was a long moment of cold silence.  
  
"Well," Satine said suddenly, looking at his turned away face. "I guess there's nothing more to say."  
  
And she walked past him and out the door.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend William Shakespeare.  
  
A/N: Ok, well I hope you liked this! They love each other, they do! Christian just needs a breather I think. What will the next chapter bring? Hmm. . . even I wonder.  
  
Songs used: 'One Day I'll Fly Away' was written by Will Jennings and Joe Sample, and 'ELM' by a bunch of people. 


	8. Chapter Eight

That night when Satine arrived home she was sure to run quickly to her apartment and lock it, before Harold had a chance to speak. She didn't need any more 'good news' tonight.  
  
She sighed and went into the kitchen to make dinner, selecting a box of noodles from the cupboard and boiling some water. After it all was made, she sat down on the card table and it's matching folding chair and began to eat.  
  
"It. . . it might not be bad, being married" she said, her stomach dropping at the thought, suddenly no longer hungry. She rubbed her hands against her arms for warmth. Robert Duken was rich, and had a famous father. All her dreams could come true, finally.  
  
She tried to force a smile, but her trembling lips wouldn't move. A tear fell from her eye. She took in a deep breath. "All I want is a room somewhere; far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair. . . oh wouldn't it be loverly? Lots of chocolate for me to eat, lots of coal makin' lots of heat; warm face, warm hands, warm feet, oh wouldn't it be loverly?"  
  
She rose from the card table and went to the back window. She closed her eyes, but she just couldn't imagine a life of being Mrs. Robert Duken. She wasn't in love with him, couldn't even remember his face. She opened her eyes and a tear fell and she bit her lip. A smile crept upon her when she saw blue, twinkling stars in the distance, and she remembered his eyes. "Oh, so lovely sittin' absolutely still! I would never budge 'till Spring crept over me window sill. Someone's head restin' on my knee; warm and tender as he can be. Who takes good care of me; oh wouldn't it be loverly?"  
  
But he knew the truth, and he would never want her now. No good man would want a hooker, a whore, a prostitute.  
  
She sighed. "All I need is a room somewhere; far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair. Oh, wouldn't it be loverly? Lots of choc'late for me to eat; lots of coal makin' lots of heat. Warm face, warm hands, warm feet, oh wouldn't it be loverly? Someone's head restin' on my knee; warm and tender as he can be, who takes good care of me; Oh wouldn't it be loverly?"  
  
She sat back on the scratchy faded orange couch. Before when she used to think about the future she saw herself on stage, but behind the curtain. . . who's arms would she be in?  
  
There was a knock on her door and she snuggled closer into the couch pillow.  
  
"Go away, Harold," she growled. "I'm fine!"  
  
"S-Satine, it's me, Christian."  
  
Satine raised her head from the couch. "Christian?" she whispered. She slowly went to the door and looked through the peephole and saw his profile in it. She took a step back and sighed, unlocking the door and opening it.  
  
She leaned against the door frame, looking at his face, studying his features. She waited, watching him with is mouth open and eyes dancing, saying nothing. Finally, she asked, "How did you find me?"  
  
"I. . ." He looked behind him to his silver truck. "I followed you here."  
  
She smiled slightly. "You like doing that, don't you?"  
  
He laughed, and then it was quiet again.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked.  
  
"Can I. . . can I come in?" he whispered. "Or would your uncle not like that?"  
  
Satine rolled her eyes. "No, he probably wouldn't. So, come in."  
  
He smiled and stepped through the door frame.  
  
"Would you like anything?" she asked. He shook his head. She closed the door and flicking the lock. He looked up and she said, "So Harold won't come in. He likes to do that."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Uh. . . have a seat."  
  
"Is this really where you live?" he whispered.  
  
Satine brushed some hair away form her face and looked around the dark apartment. There was an old lamp in the corner, a small TV on a little stand, and the old orange couch pressed against the wall. "Yeah, this is home," she said softly, moving to her birds, hanging in a corner. She opened the door and dropped in some bird seed. "We move around a lot. . . I don't really have that much to unpack."  
  
"Haven't you ever wanted. . . more?" he asked, sitting down on her couch.  
  
Satine slowly shut the bird cage. "Everyday," she whispered.  
  
"Then why don't you?"  
  
"Because I. . . I belong to Harold until I'm an adult. But soon, though. . ." She looked down. "Soon." There was another awkward silence. "You never told me what you were doing here."  
  
"Oh. Yes. Uh. . . you forgot your script." He brought forth a small tan book from his pocket.  
  
Satine slowly walked and sat next to him, taking her script and looking at her watch. "Thanks a lot, but. . . practice ended about an hour ago."  
  
He laughed slightly, rubbing his hands together and looking at the floor. "I know. It just. . . it took some time to. . ." he beat his fist in the air weakly, "work up the nerve."  
  
"Oh," she whispered, sinking back on the couch.  
  
He turned and faced her. "Not that it took me a while because I didn't want to see you. I'm-I'm not mad at you."  
  
"You're disappointed, though," she sighed, looking over her shoulder.  
  
"Satine," he whispered, and she rose her eyes to his and saw a large grin. "It always takes me some time with you. I get. . . choked up, I can't breath." He swallowed. "I love you."  
  
Her eyebrows were pinched together. "But. . . but all I told you before. Everything I said-"  
  
He kissed her softly. "I don't care," he whispered, stroking her hair. "We all have secrets."  
  
"But we're all not hooker's," she spat.  
  
He laughed slightly. "No. . . but you're not either."  
  
"Yes I am. I know you don't like the idea-"  
  
"No," he said, pushing a finger to her lips. "It's not what you are. To categorize you under just one thing would be shameful, because you are so wonderful. You. . . you're more than what you think." He smiled at her expression of pure wonder. "I'm sorry, did that not make much sense?"  
  
"No. . . no, it made perfect sense."  
  
He took her hand. "We all lead such elaborate lives, wild ambitions in our sights. How an affair of the heart survives days apart and hurried nights seems quite unbelievable to me. But I don't want to live like that. Seems quite unbelievable to me, I don't want to love like that. I just want our time to be slower and gentler, wiser, free."  
  
He kissed her fingers. "We all live in extravagant times, playing games we can't all win. Unintened emotional crimes, take some out, take others in. I'm so tired of all were going through, I don't want to live like that. I'm so tired of all were going through, I don't want to love like that. I just want to be with you now and forever, peaceful, true. This may not be the moment to tell you face to face. But I could wait forever for the perfect time and place."  
  
She leaned in to his palm on her cheek. "Too many choices tear us apart. I don't want to live like that," she whispered.  
  
"Too many choices tear us apart, I don't want to love like that. I just want to touch your heart. May this confession. . ."  
  
". . .be the start," they said together, sealing it with a kiss.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend William Shakespeare. And, um. Stephen Duken is not a real producer, I just made him and his son up.  
  
A/N: Ok, well, I hope you like this. it was a bit hurried at the end because I have to do some chemistry homework :-( stupid polyatomic ions. . . well anyway, I hope you like this. . .please review!  
  
Songs used: 'Wouldn't it be Loverly' from My Fair Lady, 'Elaborate Lives' from Aida. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Sating sighed and rose from the bed. "Where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, and there I am. Where is my Romeo?"  
  
She looked around and found Christian lying on the bed, lifeless. She pressed pale fingers to her lips and reached down to touch his hand, picking up a small bottle from his grip. "What's here?" she whispered. "A cup, closed in my true love's hand?" She smelled it, then put it aside. "Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end." She tilted the vile to her lips without another thought, but it was empty. "O churl! Drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips, haply some poison yet doth hang on them to make die with a restorative." She bent down and kissed him. "Thy lips are warm," she whispered, her chin quivering.  
  
She looked over her shoulder. "Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."  
  
She reached in his pocket and dug out a pen. "Is this the best you've got?"  
  
Christian propped his head on his arm. "I've got a pencil in there, too."  
  
"Well that's not much better," she whispered, laying beside him and propping up her head.  
  
He traced his fingers along her arm. "It could give you lead poisoning."  
  
She laughed. "Wow, this is the most romantic conversation I've ever had."  
  
"Really?" he asked with fake sincerity. "Same for me."  
  
She brushed a strand of dark hair away from his eyes and stared silently for a few moments.  
  
"What are you thinking about?" he whispered.  
  
"About the play," she said quietly. "I feel so bad for Juliet. I mean, she found her true love, but then it was taken away." Tears began in the corner of her eyes.  
  
He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Baby, it's just a play."  
  
"I know. . . but it happens. You usually don't hear about it, but it happens every day." She bit her lip. "Christian, do you think we'll end up like that?"  
  
He laughed. "Never."  
  
"But how do you know?"  
  
"Because I trust you." He kissed her. "Because I love you." He kissed her again. "Because there is nothing that could break us apart." He leaned in again, but she pulled away and laid on her back, looking at the ceiling.  
  
She took in a long breath, glancing over toward him. "I do love you," she whispered. "I truly do."  
  
"Then what's there to worry about?"  
  
Satine bit her lip. "I don't know," she whispered. "I guess I'm just being sentimental. . . getting into character. . . whatever you'd like to call me."  
  
"I like to call you mine," he breathed, moving on top of her and kissing her fiercely. Her hands raked through his dark hair as he pinned her on the bed. She started to move her hands down his neck, down his chest, and when she started to fiddle with his zipper, Christian pulled away and sat near the edge of the bed.  
  
"What's wrong?" she whispered, fixing her hair a bit. She walked over on her knees and leaned on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. "What's wrong?"  
  
He glanced at her. "I love you."  
  
Satine laughed. "And I love you!" She licked the bottom of his earlobe.  
  
"No. . ." he whispered, standing up and looking out the window.  
  
"Christian. . . is everything all right?"  
  
"Well. . . No, Satine, frankly it's not."  
  
She put her hands in her lap, lowering her head. "I'm sorry if you didn't-"  
  
He kneeled before her, placing his hands on her knees. "No, please understand me. I love you, Satine. Every part of me does."  
  
"Then. . . what's wrong?"  
  
"Every time I touch you," he whispered, "every time I kiss you, I have to wonder how many other men have done the same."  
  
She sighed and cupped her eyes with her hands. "I'm so sorry," she finally whispered after a long time. "If I had ever known that there was you. . . I would have never done any of it."  
  
He took her hands and kissed her palms. "Why did you ever do it?"  
  
She looked at him for a moment then forced a laugh. "What-what do you mean? My. . . my uncle-"  
  
"He can't make you do anything. You're your own person. How could he make you. . . do that?"  
  
She looked down at her hands and entwined her fingers in Christian's. "I was seven," she whispered. "We. . . we were poor. I don't remember my mother much. . . she was always in and out of the house at all hours of the day, and when I did see her she was intoxicated on the couch. I don't know how my father put up with it all. . . the drugs, the alcohol, the men. . . he loved her, though. When she left him. . . he went crazy."  
  
She gulped. "He. . . took me to a bar that night. Said this was 'the beginning to a new life' and gulped down shot after shot of something. He said a really lame joke, I remember, and fell to the floor. I thought he was just playing, but the bartender called the police, and he. . . my father, had died." She took in another breath and closed her eyes. "The police were going to take me to a foster home, but the bartender. . . said he was my uncle."  
  
"Harold?" Christian whispered.  
  
She nodded. "He was practically broke at that time, trying to set up a child modeling agency. Wanted me to be the star." She forced a cold laugh. "I liked the stage, the lights, the pictures. But his business didn't go good, so he set up another bar, with his little children dancing for the patrons. Over the years our costumes got cut lower, and the songs and dances became. . ."  
  
She left her sentence hang in the air as she unhooked her hands from Christian's and brought a finger to her lips. "One day he told me I had to entertain some rich man. He was. . . about 50 I think. I told Harold 'no' and he locked me out of the house and wouldn't let me back in until I had. . . done it. It's been that way ever since."  
  
"How old were you?"  
  
"13."  
  
He held her close and kissed her forehead. "Oh, baby. . ."  
  
"But I'm all right, Christian," she said, looking into his eyes. "I'm going to be a great actress, Chris, a great actress. And I'll fly, fly away from here."  
  
"I believe it, faire Juliet." He kissed her hand. "I believe in you."  
  
"I know." The smile on her lips reached into her eyes. "I trust you. No one has ever thought me to be much of anything. . . but you do."  
  
The corners of his mouth curved into a smile as he slowly leaned in. "I'll always believe in you," he whispered, his lips softly falling on hers.  
  
  
  
  
  
Satine smoothed her fingers over the back of Christian's hand as they all held hands in a circle behind the curtain opening night.  
  
"All right," the director said, smiling wildly. "This is it. . . the big show. We know it, we truly do. I can not say how great you actors are doing, and Romeo and Juliet. . ."  
  
Christian and Satine blushed as she looked at them and winked. "The two of you, falling in love is very believable."  
  
A couple of people laughed, and then it got quiet again. "Seniors, this is your last performance. I could tell you to do good, but I all ready know you're going to be. So I'm telling you something different - have fun. Break a leg!"  
  
As their circle broke to finish getting ready, Christian enveloped Satine into his arms.  
  
"I am so terribly nervous," she whispered, holding him tightly. "What if I mess up? What if I forget my line?" She lifted her head and looked into her eyes. "What if I fall and trip off-"  
  
He put her fingers over her mouth. "How can you even think that you're going to do anything but amazing?"  
  
"Well I-"  
  
"Shh," he whipered, kissing the tip of her nose. "You're going to be breathtaking."  
  
And she was. Every time she entered or left the stage, the audience would applaud. And as the play wrapped up, and the two dead lovers were discovered by everyone, the audience was silent. And then slowly, one by one, they began to clap furiously.  
  
As they all bowed and the curtain fell, Satine jumped into Christian's arms with a squeal.  
  
"I did it. . . I did it. . ."  
  
"Told you so," Christian laughed, kissing her numerous times.  
  
By the time when they had to go out and mingle with the audience, they both had lipstick all over their faces.  
  
Christian gripped her hand tightly. "Are we celebrating tonight?" he asked softly.  
  
"Ooh. . . I supose," she said with a smile. "I'll have to cancel my hot date, but. . ."  
  
He silenced her with a slow kiss as they walked out of the auditorium to greet their parents.  
  
After many "good job"s Christian left to go great his family.  
  
"Pigeon!" a voice said behind Satine.  
  
She rolled her eyes and forced a smile, turning around. "Hello. . . Harold," she said unstedily, seeing someone very familiar standing behind her 'uncle' with a large bouquet of roses.  
  
"My dear, you remember Robert Duken, don't you?" Harold asked, putting his hands behind her back and pushing her forward.  
  
"I. . . um. . ." Satine started, a large lump beginning in her throat.  
  
"Is the actress out of words?" Robert whispered, taking her hand and kissing it. "You were wonderful, my dear. Here," he handed her the flowers.  
  
Her arms full of roses, Satine stared at Robert. He had light blond hair, sweeping over his forehead and the beginnings of a goatee. He was very elegant, wearing a pressed suit, and might have been handsome if his lip didn't curl up or his breath didn't smell or he stared at you for entirely too long or his voice came from his nose and not his throat or his nose was more like a snout or. . .  
  
The list was piling up in Satine's head. As the reality that he would be the one she would spend the rest of her live with swept through her brain, it brought tears to her eyes and a weight in her stomach.  
  
"My dear, don't you have anything to say to him?" Harold asked, nodding at the flowers.  
  
"Th-thank you, so much," she whispered.  
  
"It was nothing," Robert said dryly. "Now, come. Our dinner reservations cannot wait all night, not even for me."  
  
"D-dinner?"  
  
"To celebrate!" Harold exclaimed, pushing her forward.  
  
"For what?" she asked.  
  
"For our engagement, my darling," Robert said, laughing. "Don't tell me you forgot."  
  
Satine numbly felt the flowers begin to slip out of her arms. "Oh." She took in a deep breath. "Oh, yes."  
  
"Now, why don't you go get ready, hmm?" Harold asked. "You can't exactly go to The Elephant dressed like that, now can you?"  
  
"No, no, certainly not!" Robert laughed. "Now, go wash your face, put on some better makeup, and there is a dress in your dressing room I want you to wear. I paid. . . someone to put it there during intermission."  
  
"Yes. . . yes, ok." Satine turned around, her eyes round a full of tears and headed backstage.  
  
Someone tugged on her arm and she turned around and fell into Christian's embrace.  
  
"Why did you leave so soon?" he asked, kissing the top of her head. "I wanted you to meet my parents."  
  
"I'm. . . I'm sorry, Christian," she said, dropping her flowers and holding him tightly. "I'm sorry."  
  
"For what?" He lifted her head and looked into her teary eyes. "Satine, what's-"  
  
"I'm sorry, but I can't go out with you tonight. I. . . I'm feeling sick, Christian. I'm sorry."  
  
"Oh. Well, I'll. . . take you home then."  
  
She forced a smile. "No, I'm fine. Um. . . Harold. . . Harold is taking me."  
  
"But. . . I thought you didn't-"  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Christian loosened his grip on her, dropping his hands at his side. "Well, it's. . . it's not that important, I guess."  
  
She nodded and forced a smile. "Some other time, then." And she turned and walked off toward the dressing room.  
  
When she opened the door, she found it empty, everyone else still with their loving families. Satine moved over toward her corner and found a red dress hanging up. She sighed and went to wash her face and put some more on. When she went back ot her corner, she tried on the dress, and with distaste found it was tight and low cut.  
  
On the counter there was a black box, and when she opened it, found an extremely large diamond choker.  
  
"Oh, God," she gasped, picking it up.  
  
It must have been expensive, even for the son of a great movie producer. It was looped around the edges, with more diamonds than she had ever seen in her life.  
  
She thought back to a song she remembered. "Men grow cold as girls grow old and we all lose our charms in the end, but square-cut or pear-shaped these rocks don't lose their shape. Diamonds are a girl's best friend."  
  
She set it down and sat down in a chair, propping her chin in her hand and stared at her face. Never before had she wondered of who was staring back in the mirror. She felt so lost.  
  
"Christian. . ." she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I really am sorry."  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to Baz, me, and my good friend William Shakespeare. And, um. Stephen Duken is not a real producer, I just made him and his son up.  
  
A/N: Ok, so this took a little longer than expected. I need a new muse.  
  
Songs used: 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' 


	10. Chapter Ten

Satine leaned her chin on her hand and tapped her pencil on her open Calculus book, and glanced at her blank notebook. She looked up and saw Christian a few seats away, his head bent over his book and hurriedly plugging in numbers in his calculator and writing them down.  
  
She sighed. It had been only been a week since the opening of the play. . . since she went out with Robert Duken. Christian seemed so hurt backstage, but now things were back to normal. . . except Satine didn't know if they wanted them to be.  
  
Satine sat back in her chair and wondered what Christian would do if she told him she was engaged. Her eyes fell and a lump clung to her throat. They'd be through - no man would ever put up with that. The only happiness she had ever known would fly away without her.  
  
She had no other choice. Her fate was all ready decided. . . she was to marry Robert Duken. Satine felt sick at the thought and laid her head down as the bell rang.  
  
She sighed again and lifted her head, jumping slightly when Christian sat in the seat in front of her, her chin on his hands.  
  
"Oh, hello," she whispered.  
  
He smiled widely. "I have a surprise for you. . ."  
  
"W-What is it?"  
  
"Silly, it's a surprise! I can't tell you." He nodded his head toward the door. "Darling, lets go."  
  
She smiled at the name packed up her things in her bag and took his hand.  
  
  
  
  
  
After being blindfolded the whole car ride that seemed like hours, Christian rolled into a gentle stop. "We're here," he whispered, leaning over and kissing her cheek.  
  
She smiled. "Where are we?" she asked.  
  
"Just stay there." She heard his door open and close, and then his smooth footsteps came around the car to open her door. He put his arm around her and helped her up, walking her carefully a distance.  
  
"Can I take my blindfold off yet?" she laughed.  
  
"Yes," he whispered in her ear, untying the back of the bandana and letting it fall to the ground.  
  
Satine's mouth hung open when she saw the large gray elephant structure. "Ch-Christian, what-?"  
  
"I know you just moved here so you haven't heard of this place, but it's really famous here. It's called 'The Elephant'."  
  
She forced herself to take a breath. "Isn't-isn't there a dress code here Christian? I mean I'm not wearing anything fancy."  
  
Christian slipped his arms around her waist. "I borrowed some costumes from the prop shop."  
  
Satine was at a lost for words. Last Friday night she had been here with Robert Duken. Although he never told her, she saw him slip the manager a fifty and whisper that she was only aloud to be seated when she came with him.  
  
"It's - it's too fancy," she said, tugging on his arm. "It's a wonderful idea, darling, but why don't we go somewhere else?"  
  
"Well, I. . ." his face turned pink. "I had reservations weeks in advance."  
  
"Oh," she whispered, tucking some hair behind her ear. Maybe if she kept her head down, maybe if they were seated in a small table, maybe if they didn't have the same waiter. . . the whole list of maybe's were racking up in her head, but only half heartily did she believe them.  
  
She kissed him softly. "Lets go."  
  
"Really?" he asked, smiling widely. "Really?"  
  
"Really really."  
  
Christian changed first, and then Satine, with the help of tinted windows. Satine emerged in a long light purple dress, with diamonds laced around the edges. She fixed her hair into an elegant bun and smiled at Christian's glazed eyes, wrapping her arms around him. "You sure know how to pick out a dress."  
  
"Uh. . . thanks," he whispered, looking into her face with a warm expression.  
  
"How can you do that?" she wondered to her self, surprised when it came out.  
  
"Do what?"  
  
She took a deep breath. "Look at me like I'm the most beautiful person you've ever seen?"  
  
"You are," he whispered, touching his forehead with hers. "It's scary how much I feel when I just look in your eyes."  
  
She blushed and looked away from his gaze, seeing his crooked tie. She laughed slightly and started to re-tie it.  
  
"There," she whispered when she was done and patted his cheek. "I believe we're ready."  
  
He offered her his arm with a smile and she took it gently, resting her head on his arm, hoping no one would recognize her inside.  
  
  
  
  
  
When they approached the desk, the snooty manager scowled. "Do you have a reservation?" he asked with a thick french accent.  
  
"James, party of 2."  
  
The man looked in his book and scowled, picking up two menu's. "Right this way," he said with forced sincerity.  
  
When they were seated in a table far away from the desk, the man looked very suspiciously at Satine. "Do I know you miss?" he asked.  
  
Satine bit her lip. "Of course not. I've never been here before," she whispered.  
  
He nodded skeptically and scurried away.  
  
"Isn't this fabulous?" Christian asked, looking through his menu.  
  
Satine finally lifted her head. "Fabulous," she whispered.  
  
"I've only taken one year of French. . ." he whispered.  
  
"Then let me order for you," she said with a smile.  
  
"You know it?"  
  
"Harold's girlfriend, Marie, was from France. She taught me."  
  
After saying in English what everything was, a waiter finally came. "Can I start you two out with some drinks?"  
  
Satine quickly looked away. It was the same waiter as Friday. She hoped he hadn't recognized her. "Hot tea, please."  
  
"I'll have the same," Christian said.  
  
"Do I. . . Do I know you from somewhere?" the waiter whispered.  
  
"No you don't."  
  
"Why. . .you-you were here with that. . . that movie producer's son of Friday! Robert Duken. . . is that right?"  
  
"I wouldn't know," she whispered, hoping Christian wasn't listening to a word of it.  
  
"Yes! It was Robert Duken!" the waiter exclaimed, his voice becoming a little too loud. "You know, I'm an actor. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him, but if you know of any auditions coming up, I can play many different roles. Robert Duken is going to get married soon, right? I think people who just get married are so much nicer to work with-"  
  
"Will you please excuse us?" Christian drily.  
  
"Oh, sure. Be right out with your tea."  
  
After he had left, there was an eerie quietness and Satine slowly lifted her head to look into Christian's stern face.  
  
"Where were you on Friday?" he asked.  
  
She bit her lip. "I-I told you, I was sick."  
  
"You don't have to lie to me."  
  
"Oh, Christian, I don't want to-"  
  
"Then don't!" he hissed. He set his head in his hands for a moment. "Were you here. . . on Friday. . . with this-this Robert Duken?"  
  
She took a deep breath. "I was," she whispered.  
  
"Oh, God." He threw down his napkin and headed for the door, and Satine followed him out to the parking lot.  
  
"I wanted to tell you, Christian, I wanted to-"  
  
He whirled around suddenly, startling her. "Then why didn't you?"  
  
"I-I don't know." He turned away and started walking again. She ran to catch up with him. "Christian, I wanted to tell you, but-"  
  
"Was it Harold?" he demanded, stopping again. "Did he make you do this? Did he give you another job you just couldn't refuse?"  
  
"That's not fair."  
  
"No, you know what's NOT fair? My GIRLFRIEND said she was sick, but instead she went on a date with some GUY!"  
  
"Please, Christian, you have to understand-"  
  
"There's more?"  
  
"Well. . ."  
  
"Oh, God. Next you're going to tell me that the one he is engaged to is YOU."  
  
She was silent for a moment, her eyes tearing up.  
  
"It's - it's true, then?" he whispered.  
  
Satine reached into her purse and pulled out a large diamond ring and presented it to him. "I'm engaged," she whispered.  
  
His lips were pushed tightly together, and finally he looked away, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "When were you going to tell me?"  
  
"Soon," she whispered.  
  
"Soon?!" he roared. "How about the moment you found out?"  
  
"I fell in love with you," she whispered. "I don't know about you, but that has never happened to me before. I knew about Robert Duken. I knew I should tell you. . . but I didn't." She took in a deep breath. "I didn't think we'd last this long. . . you'd grow tired of me and throw me out like the rest of them. I've lived eighteen years. . . so dark. I wanted some happiness in my life."  
  
She brushed some tears away from her eyes. Christian was silent, so she began again, moving closer to him. "I tried to imagine a life without you. . . and I couldn't do it. If I was Mrs. Duken, nothing would change. I would still cry, still be so cold. . . I thought being a famous actress would make me happy. . . being married into Hollywood would give be a sure chance of becoming a star. But I never knew what happy was, until there was you."  
  
"That's bull," he whispered and got out his keys, walking closer to his car.  
  
She hung on to his arm, but he pushed her away. "Christian, I love you!"  
  
He paused, his door halfway open. "You love me?" he whispered.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"You LOVE me?!" he yelled, slamming his door shut. "Do you know that from the beginning, the MOMENT I saw you I was in love with you." He laughed. "That is until I knew who you were, a lying whore."  
  
Satine's tears fell harder. "Christian, please."  
  
"Do you know why I even wanted to come here, huh? Do you know why I drove an hour and a half to some fancy restaurant I had to dip into my college fund to come to?" He laughed at himself and brought out a black ring box. He opened it in front of his eyes and laughed again, turning it her way so she could see the gold band with diamonds shaping a flower around it. "I can't live without you, Satine. I was going to ask you to marry me after high school or. . . after college."  
  
Satine was struck speechless, her quivering mouth hanging open. He stared at the ring again. "It was my grandma's. You know, I told my mother about you, said I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, and she gave me this." He forced another laugh. "Well, hell, what a lot of good that did." He slid into the drivers seat.  
  
"I'm still yours, Christian!" she yelled. "Even if you don't want me any more. . . I'll always be yours, whatever may come. Seasons may change, winter to spring. But I love you, until my dying day, come what may."  
  
He was about to put his key in the ignition, but he stopped. "Come what may?" he murmured.  
  
"Don't leave me this way," she sang in a whisper. "I can't survive without your sweet love, oh baby. . . don't leave me this way."  
  
Christian's arms fell to his side, and Satine opened the door and kneeled down on the pavement. "Darling. . ." she said, caressing his cheek. She choked back a sob. "Darling, say something."  
  
He took in a breath and opened his mouth, but no words formed. He touched her hand lightly and looked at her. He sighed. "Why can't I just be angry with you?"  
  
She forced a smile. "I'm so sorry. . ."  
  
"When are you getting married?"  
  
She looked down. "Graduation night. He wanted it as soon as possible. I-"  
  
"Like hell you are."  
  
Satine slowly looked up into Christian's face, his eyes full of tears and his lips pushed into a smile.  
  
"Romeo and Juliet. . ." he said, taking her hand and pulling her into his lap. "Juliet was engaged, right?" Satine nodded. "If they're love can overcome all obstacles. . . why can't ours?"  
  
Satine smiled. "Oh Christian."  
  
"I can't go on without you."  
  
"Ditto," she whispered.  
  
He pulled out the ring box from his pocket and opened it in front of her eyes. "So what do you say?"  
  
"I say. . . how wonderful life is, now you're in the world." Satine giggled. "Yes. . . yes, I say yes. . ."  
  
Christian hands went to the back of her neck and pulled her in close for a long, slow kiss.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Stephen Duken is not a real producer, I just made him and his son up.  
  
A/N: Ok, this took me a LONG time, but I think it's pretty good. Hope it was worth the wait!!  
  
Songs used: 'Come What May. . .' 'ELM. . .' 


	11. Chapter Eleven

As Satine opened the door to her apartment, she giggled and flipped the lights on, raising her left hand to her face and looking at the ring. "It's so beautiful. . ." she whispered, imagining wearing it forever. She giggled again and moved over to her cd player and pushed play, singing along.  
  
"I wake up in the morning, put on my face. The one that's gonna get me through another day, doesn't really matter how I feel inside. This life is like a game sometimes."  
  
She smiled and danced with up the bouquet of 'wild flowers' (dandelions) Christian picked for her on their walk after the restaurant. "Then you came around me, the walls just disappeared. Nothing to surround me, keep me from my fears. I'm unprotected, see how I've opened up. You've made me trust. I've never felt like this before!" she shouted. "I'm naked around you, does it show? You see right through me and I can't hide. I'm naked around you, and it feels so right."  
  
She pranced into the kitchen to find a vase for her flowers. "Trying to remember why I was afraid to be myself and let the covers fall away. Guess I never had someone like you to help me fit in my skin-"  
  
"Satine, are you in there?" Harold asked, coming in the open door. "You should really close this. . . it could be dangerous."  
  
Satine bit her lip. She had been so happy that she had forgotten. "Sorry," she whispered.  
  
"Where were you today?" he asked. "I came to pick you up at school and you never came out. . . you just got home, didn't you?"  
  
Satine lowered her head. She had forgotten the prior arrangement with Robert Duken today. . . Christian just made her forget everything. She smiled slightly.  
  
"You think it's funny, do you?!" he demanded, slamming the door. "You better be grateful that I am a great liar, otherwise he would have left!"  
  
"What a shame that would have been. . ." she murmured.  
  
"You think I'm doing this for me?" he asked. Satine bit her lip to keep back form screaming, 'yes!'. "Darling, I'm doing this for you. I'm giving you a future. . . you want to be a great actress, don't you?"  
  
"I do," she whispered.  
  
"What's wrong with you lately? You don't come into work, you're hardly at home. . ."  
  
"I've just. . . been busy, that's all."  
  
"With what?"  
  
"I. . ."  
  
"It's not that. . . boy is it?"  
  
Satine's stomach fell. "What boy?"  
  
"That. . . Romeo."  
  
"Ch-Christian James?" she asked breathless.  
  
"Yes, him! I saw that way you were together."  
  
"That was just a play, Harold," she said, turning away to get a glass of water.  
  
"It looked like more than just a play," he said quietly.  
  
Satine held her breath, gripping the cup of water in her left hand. Slowly, she lifted it to her lips.  
  
"What's that?!" he yelled, so suddenly that she dropped the cheap plastic cup, spilling water all over the floor.  
  
"What's what?" She spun around to look at him.  
  
"That ring. . ."  
  
Satin tucked her hands under her crossed arms. "It's. . . I. . . Can't I wear my engagement ring?"  
  
"That's not the one Robert gave you. . ." he growled.  
  
Her eyes went wide. "I. . . uh. . . what? It's-it's not?"  
  
"No!" he protested.  
  
There was a wide silence that stretched for the lapse of a couple minutes. Then Harold said, "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Like hell you don't!" he roared. "You've been seeing him, haven't you?" Satine said nothing. "Haven't you?!"  
  
She flinched. "Yes," she whispered.  
  
"You could ruin everything with him!"  
  
"I know," she sobbed.  
  
"Then why?!"  
  
"Because I love him!" She clapped her hand over mouth.  
  
There was another eerie silence. "You love him?" Harold asked, squaring his eyes.  
  
"I. . . I do," she whispered.  
  
"Do you think he'll love you when he knows who you are, huh? You're a prostitute, engaged to a millionaire! You think he'll want you still?!"  
  
Satine stuck out her chin. "He. . . knows. And he's still with me." She held up her left hand. "He asked me to marry him."  
  
"And what did you tell him?"  
  
"I told him 'yes'!" she yelled, reaching into her pocket and picking up the ring from Robert Duken. "I think this belongs to you." She threw it to him and he caught it against his chest.  
  
He stared at the large diamond ring in his fingers. "I'm not about to let you ruin everything for me," he hissed. "I've worked all my life for this, and I'm not about to let you ruin everything!"  
  
"I've worked my whole life for this too, Harold. I wanted to be an actress more than anything. . . but I know now that there are things more important than money and fame."  
  
"Like what?!" he demanded.  
  
"Like love!" she yelled. "Christian loves me. . . he LOVES me. And that's worth everything." She took in a deep breath. "We're getting married, Harold. We're in love, and we're getting married, and nothing you can say can make me do other wise. You hear me?!" she screamed. He said nothing. "I don't need you anymore! I'll live on the streets if I have to - anywhere but here!"  
  
He didn't say anything, so she forced a smile. "Goodbye, Harold," and sped past him.  
  
"Do you really think it's that easy?" he whispered.  
  
She ignored him and picked up her coat.  
  
"You really think you can live out there without my protection?"  
  
"What protection?" she laughed.  
  
"Do you think that everyone you stay the night with at the club just comes and goes?"  
  
She stopped gathering up her things in her backpack and looked at him. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Oh, your customers. . . they LOVE you, they truly do. And they try to find you again, and say you love them and would love to see them. . . but you are busy with another customer. They feel deceived, deserted. . . dangerously jealous. But I have people to protect you, Satine. People to watch out for you."  
  
"You have spies?"  
  
"For your protection!" he said. "If it weren't for them, you'd be dead YEARS ago."  
  
"Thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind." She stuffed some other things in her bag.  
  
"None of them have ever been as rich and as taken with you as Robert. . . he will find you on your own."  
  
She thought for a moment. "He can't hurt us," she whispered, sitting still on the couch.  
  
Harold sat next to her. "Oh, yes he can, and he will. When he called this afternoon to ask where you were, he suspected you were with someone-"  
  
"I don't care!" she yelled, springing up and throwing his arm off her. "I don't care about Robert Duken!" She held up her left hand. "I AM going to get married to Christian, Harold. I am."  
  
"Robert Duken is insanely jealous," he continued. "If you do this and run away, he will find you and kill Christian."  
  
She stifled a cry and hung on to a chair for balance. "No. . ."  
  
"He's a very rich and powerful man. . . he has both the resources and the purse to do it. And he will, make no mistake at that." Harold stood up and pulled Satine back to the couch, resting her shaky legs. "You know I'm right," he whispered.  
  
She sobbed and looked away, tears in her eyes.  
  
"If you want to save his life, tell him it's over."  
  
She knew he was right. His life would be ruined just because she selfishly wanted to be with him. "Too much has happened. . . he'll fight for me."  
  
"Then I think you know what you must do."  
  
Satine thought for a moment, and started crying.  
  
"You're a great actress."  
  
"No," she sobbed. "No. . ." All the happiness she had ever known was suddenly slipping through her fingers, and she couldn't catch it and bring it back, she didn't have the strength to.  
  
"If you love him. . . you will do this for him. Save his life."  
  
She put her head in her hands. She did love him. He had given her the best gift she had ever known - freedom. But nothing lasts forever. Maybe she could repay him by giving him his life. "I'll do it," she whispered. "I'll do it."  
  
"I knew you'd do the right thing, Pigeon. Daddy raised you right." He patted her head.  
  
"Get. . . out," she hissed.  
  
"Yes, well. . . I suspect Marie needs help with dinner again. You're invited, of course." He headed out the door.  
  
"Christian. . ." she whispered. Something good had happened for a change. . . but never does it stay forever. She really wanted to spend the rest of her days with Christian, picked out every little detail of their wedding in the last 4 hours in her head.  
  
"Maybe Harold's right," she said to herself. "Maybe I'm not supposed to love."  
  
The CD player that she had completely forgotten about continued to play, and Avril Lavigne sang, "Is it enough to love? Is it enough to breathe? Somebody rip my heart out and leave me here to bleed. Is it enough to die? Somebody save my life." The lyrics shook Satine' bones and she hugged a blanket around her shoulders to keep herself warm.  
  
She laid down her head and closed her sore, red eyes, preparing for what would happen tomorrow.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: Ok, so I think people are beginning to like this better now. . . hope I didn't disappoint people with this. I just got the Avril Lavigne cd(which is GREAT!), so I used some of her songs. . . hehehe.  
  
Songs used: 'Naked' by Avril Lavigne, 'Anything But Ordinary' by Avril Lavigne 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Christian heaved out a breath as he pushed the electric lawnmower over the rise on his parent's lawn. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face, dripping down his jaw bone and landing on his white shirt.  
  
It was always work mowing the lawn. It's not that it was big, but rather hilly, and his father always insisted on him doing it in the middle of the afternoon, when the scorching California sun was at it's worst. He always wanted to do it at night, when it was cooler, but. . .  
  
There were so many rules in his life that he wanted to change, couldn't wait to change. As soon as he was out of here, him and Satine. . . he grinned wildly. Maybe they wouldn't get married right after high school, but after college. And they would buy a little house away from the world, like they talked about.  
  
He no longer hated mowing the rugged lawn, imaging it was his own. And his good and faithful wife would come out from the house with a cold glass of lemonade.  
  
He let up on the handle of the mower, quizzically looking at Satine's rusty old blue car parked by the side of his house. He smiled when he saw her step out and he hurried down the hill.  
  
He put a hand on her waist and kissed her cheek.  
  
She wrinkled up her nose. "You're sweaty. . ."  
  
"By any chance, would you have some lemonade with you?"  
  
"Well, I didn't pack it this morning. . ." she answered slowly.  
  
He kissed her cheek again. "I love you," he whispered, sighing.  
  
"Christian, we need to talk." She looked at her feet, brushing the grass clippings around with her shoes.  
  
His smile faded as he watched her. "What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
She raised her chin, and suddenly her eyes were someone else's. "I'm staying with Robert."  
  
He coughed out a breath, her statement had some so suddenly. "Wh. . . what?"  
  
"After I left you last night, I was thinking. . . and I came up with the fact that Robert can promise me everything - everything I've ever dreamed of - and he really means it. Its not fair to him that I keep you, still, so. . ." She took in a breath, never once looking at him, but past him or at her feet. "I must never see you again." She took a chance and looked at Christian, and like a chameleon her eyes changed from cold to soft and she looked away. "I'm sorry."  
  
Christian held on to her arm and she didn't put up a struggle. "What are you talking about, Satine?" He made her look at him, his chin quivering. She bit her lip to keep tears back. "He may want to give you everything, but without love he can't give you anything."  
  
Now it was her turn for her chin to shake. "I. . . I didn't expect you to understand." She pushed his hand off her arm. "I have a duty. . ."  
  
"No!" he shouted.  
  
She looked up suddenly at him, tears coming to her eyes. She looked away, placing her hands over her eyes.  
  
His hands on her shoulders were harder than he had planned them to be. "There's something the matter. . . there's something wrong, tell me what it is."  
  
She shook her head, moving away from him, but he held her firmly. "Tell me!"  
  
She pushed him with all the strength she could muster and stood a couple of feet away from him. She looked into his red face, staring at his soft eyes on the brink of tears. His hands were shaking, as was his chin, and Satine felt her knees begin to go out.  
  
She hurried to her car, needing to get out. She held onto the door handle but Christian came around and held onto her arms tightly.  
  
"Tell me what's wrong!" he yelled.  
  
"I. . . I don't. . . I don't love. . ." She couldn't finish for the life of her and she leaned forward, placing her forehead on the car.  
  
"Tell me," he whispered in her ear.  
  
"I. . . I thought I could do this," she said quietly. "Thought this would be easy. . . I'd break your heart and you'd leave me alone, forever. . ."  
  
"What are you talking about?" He leaned her back against the car and was confused when he looked into her eyes, overflowing with tears.  
  
"The truth is. . . we can't be together, Christian."  
  
"And why not?" he asked, balling his hands into fists.  
  
"What kind of life would that be, running and hiding, always in fear. . ."  
  
"Fear of what?"  
  
She bit her lip. "Robert will kill you."  
  
"I don't care," he said immediately.  
  
"Like hell you don't!" she yelled.  
  
"Then we'll run. We'll run away from here and never come back. . ."  
  
"If we run, he will find us. If we hide, he will find us! Whatever we do, Christian, if I stay with you, Robert will find a way to tear us apart." She took a breath and touched his cheek. "You know I'm right. . ."  
  
"No I don't!" he said, placing his hand over hers and taking a step closer.  
  
She closed her eyes, tears rippling down her flawless cheek. "Christian, I have to do this," she whispered. "I won't see you die because I selfishly held you to me." He forced a laugh, not wanting to believe any of this. She smoothed his cheek. "Love is something he can't take away, and it is something I will keep with me forever. I will love you. . . until my dying day."  
  
"What about Romeo and Juliet?" he whispered. "They got married. . . they were happy-"  
  
"It was one of Shakespeare's best tragedy story, Christian. They died, remember?" She paused for a bit. "You promised me. . . You promised me that we wouldn't end up like them, remember?"  
  
He bit his lip, tears flowing down his red face. She held him in her arms, stroking the back of his neck. "I do love you. . ." she whispered. He responded by wrapping his arms around her tighter. "There's just no other way. . ."  
  
He pushed away from her. "No!" he yelled. "No!"  
  
"Christian, we have no other choice! Robert-"  
  
"I don't care!" he said, his voice softening. He placed a hand on her cheek. "I don't care who he is or what he can do to me. . . I love you. I will always love you."  
  
She closed her eyes and leaned against the warmth of his hand. "You're going to be fine, Christian. You're going to be fine," she whispered, her voice wavering. He dropped his hands and stood still, slightly pale. "You're going to go on with your life and move on, and find someone new-"  
  
"No," he sobbed quietly.  
  
She made him look into her eyes. "Yes, you are. You have so much to give. . . You're going to make some girl so happy one day. . ." She smiled through her tears. "I just wish that girl could have been me."  
  
"Satine-"  
  
She pushed a finger to his lips. "Please, don't," she said softly. "You have given me the greatest gift I have ever known. I will never forget you." She took in a deep breath. "And I'll probably live the rest of my life in love with you, and thinking of you. . . and wonder what would have happened if I never knew you."  
  
"What are you talking about?" he asked with downcast red eyes.  
  
"If I never knew you," she sang quietly, reaching out to touch his hand. "If I never felt this love, I would have no inkling of how precious life can be. And if I never held you, I would never have a clue how at last I'd find in you the missing part of me. In this world so full of fear, full of rage and lies. I can see the truth so clear in your eyes, so dry your eyes." She kissed away his tears. "And I'm so grateful to you, I'd have lived my whole life through. . . lost forever, if I never knew you."  
  
His lips were pushed together in a thin line and he looked at the ground. "If I never knew you," he sobbed, his hand rubbing his face. "I'd be safe but half as real. Never knowing I could feel a love so strong and true. I'm so grateful to you, I'd have lived my whole life through. . . lost forever, If I never knew you."  
  
"I thought our love would be so beautiful. Somehow we made the whole world bright," she said. "I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong, all they'd leave us where these whispers in the night. But still my heart is singing, 'We were right.' "  
  
"If I never knew you, If I never knew this love, I would have no inkling of how precious life can be," he said.  
  
"There's no moment I regret," she said, making sure he saw her eyes, "since the moment that we met. If our time has gone too fast, I've lived at last..."  
  
"I thought our love would be so beautiful, somehow we'd make the whole world bright," Christian said, forcing a laugh.  
  
"I thought our love would be so beautiful, We'd turn the darkness into light."  
  
"And still my heart is singing, 'We were right.' " They looked up suddenly when they realized they had said they same thing.  
  
Satine kissed his hand. "We WERE right. And If I never knew you, I'd have lived my whole life through, empty as the sky. . ."  
  
"Never knowing why. . ." they said together, Christian enveloping her into his arms. "Lost forever, If I never knew you."  
  
They held onto each other for a while, Christian breathing deeply. Satine lifted her head and smiled, tears dancing in her eyes.  
  
"Goodbye," she whispered.  
  
She started to walk away but Christian held on to her hand and pulled her to him kissed her with all the raw passion he had in him. His fingers behind her neck twisted in her long ruby hair, and her arms hugged his waist.  
  
Finally, out of breath, he pulled away, breathing deeply and resting his forehead against hers. She smoothed his face and strained a smile. Sighing, she hurried into her car.  
  
Christian watched, as if in slow motion, as she drove away. He hugged his arms to his body, but couldn't get warm. He felt his legs turn to rubber and he sat down by the side of the road and cried.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: Just eatin' a peanut butter & jelly sandwich (by the way, it was very good) and decided to write this. Hope you don't get too angry at Lil' ol me.  
  
Songs used: 'If I Never Knew You' from Pocahontas(played during the credits, such a sad song, very good. . . one of my favorites!!!) 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Christian sighed and scratched his chin, rough with stubble of not shaving in a few days. He pushed back his wild hair and flipped on the radio, anything that would take his mind off of his current life.  
  
"All you need is love!" John Lennon and Paul McCartney sang on the oldie station. "All you need is love! All you need is love! Love! Love is all you need. . ."  
  
He angrily pushed another, and the voice of Sir Elton John shook him. "I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words. How wonderful life is now you're in the world!"  
  
He raised his hand to his head, rubbing his temple. The song faded away, and a note from a piano was struck and a woman's weak voice sang a song that made him want to cry.  
  
"If I should die this very moment," she said, "I wouldn't fear. For I've never known completeness like being here. Wrapped in the warmth of you, loving every breath of you. Still my heart this moment or it might burst."  
  
His breath slowed as he continued to speed down the road and the woman continued. "Could we stay right here 'till the end of time until the earth stops turning? Wanna love you until the seas run dry. I've found the one I've waited for. All this time I've loved you, and never known your face. All this time I've missed you and searched this human race. Here is true peace, here my heart knows calm. Safe in your soul, bathed in your sighs. Wanna stay right here 'till the end of time, 'till the earth stops turning. Gonna love you until the seas run dry. I've found the one I've waited for."  
  
He blinked away the tears from his eyes. He had found the one he was waiting for. All his life he dreamed of a love that would overcome all obstacles, withstand every hardship life could slip you. Warm, wonderful confusion filled every fiber of his being and brought a dumb smile to his lips whenever Satine was near. He was so sure that she was the one.  
  
He'd never been in love before, never been with anyone before. But there is just a time in your life when you see someone and you know that you will never find anyone in the entire world more perfect. And he was willing to stay the rest of his life by her side. . . but she wasn't.  
  
Nothing is ever as easy as you think it's going to be. Nothing gold can stay.  
  
He sighed as he parked in Henry's driveway. He had called him over a few minutes ago, and when he reached his destination his friend was waiting on his driveway.  
  
Christian turned off the car and stepped out, pushing back his greasy hair again and forcing a smile at his oldest friend.  
  
"Chwistian, I haven't seen you in a few days," Henry said. "When you didn't come to school I started to wowwy, you never miss school even when you'we sick."  
  
Christian sighed. "Henry. . . I am sick. But it's worse than that."  
  
Henry nodded. "You'we mothew called me. She said she was wowwied about you."  
  
Henry opened the front door, where his mother greeted them. "Hello Christian," she said, shaking Christian's hand. "It's been a long time since I've seen you."  
  
"I know. . . I'm sorry."  
  
"Would you like something to drink, Christian?" Henry's mother asked him.  
  
Christian shook his head. "No, thank you," he whispered.  
  
She nodded and left them alone in the living room. Christian flopped down on the couch, and Henry across from him in a rocking chair.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Henry," Christian said.  
  
"For what?" he asked, surprised.  
  
"We used to do everything together. . . I have hardly seen you these past few months. Graduation's coming up soon. . . You're going to New York to be an artist and I. . . I'm going to be stuck here."  
  
"No colleges have replied back yet?"  
  
"Oh, every community college in the area has. . . I just don't understand why the others won't. I even have the grades, but I still don't know what I want to be. I'm going to be stuck here forever in this measly town drinking my sorrows away, being known as the crazy old man who rocks back and forth on his porch, which is of course a motor home because my job at the gas station doesn't give me much money, crying at the memory of some. . . past love! While she is of course going to be in every magazine in the country, getting millions of dollars for movies. . ."  
  
"Satine?" Henry asked quietly.  
  
Christian closed his eyes and saw her wonderful smile against the darkness. "Yes," he whispered. He opened his eyes slowly and studied his friend. "How did you know?"  
  
"I saw the play, Chwis. There's no mistake you two were in love."  
  
Christian laughed. "We don't even know what love is, Henry."  
  
"Chwistian," he whispered, "you may see me only as a gnome whose friends are just outcasts from the brothels. But I know about art and love, if only because I long for it with every fiber of my being. She loves, I know she loves you."  
  
"Then why is she staying with Robert, huh? Why?" Christian's eyes began to fill with tears.  
  
"Who's Wobewt?"  
  
"Her fiancé." He scoffed, rising from the couch and pacing the floor. "Some. . . son of a movie producer, real rich. Her uncle is forcing her to marry him. She says Robert will kill me if he ever finds out about me, but I don't care." He stopped and looked at his friend. "I asked her to marry me. . . she said yes and I was the most happiest person you ever saw. But now. . ."  
  
"You look a mess," Henry said, trying to get a little humor out of him.  
  
"I can't think straight," he said, never changing his emotions. "I don't eat, wake up in night sweats. Henry, I don't know what to do!"  
  
"Do you love hew?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Christian said, looking him in the eye. "Yes, I love her."  
  
"Then what's the pwoblem?" he said, smiling. "If she's youw 'one', then don't let hew go. Do what evew you can to show hew she shouldn't give up either."  
  
"Henry. . ." Christian smiled suddenly, removing all the despair and anger on his face. "Thank you." He started out the door.  
  
"Oh, Chwistian?" Henry called to him.  
  
"Yeah?" he asked, grabbing his keys.  
  
"Take a showew fiwst. Ladies like good higene."  
  
Christian laughed and ran out the door.  
  
  
  
  
  
Satine sighed as she walked past the mirror, looking at her slim form, a shiny black costume hugging it tightly. She stopped and walked closer to it, looking at her face covered with heaps of makeup. She blinked her eyes and tears started to fall, washing back down her face. She looked away from the mirror and brushed the tears away. "You silly girl," she whispered. "I thought you would be used to this all by now."  
  
She slowly turned back to the mirror. She could almost feel where the customers touched her, reached out to kiss her. She wished she could just take a shower and wash away all of the shame away. The past few months, she had forgotten. She finally got that shower.  
  
But anymore. The drunks' hands slid across her, their eyes stared at her barely covered form and she felt disgusted with herself.  
  
She hid herself from the mirror and washed off her makeup, and watched the small stream of ivory-colored water now drip down the drain.  
  
She reached over and turned on her radio, and had to sit down as a woman's weak voice sang a song that matched her bleak heart.  
  
"If I should die this very moment," she said, "I wouldn't fear. For I've never known completeness like being here. Wrapped in the warmth of you, loving every breath of you. Still my heart this moment or it might burst. Could we stay right here 'till the end of time until the earth stops turning? Wanna love you until the seas run dry. I've found the one I've waited for."  
  
She looked up at the ceiling, begging the tears not to come, but as she closed her eyes they began to fall. "All this time I've loved you, and never known your face. All this time I've missed you and searched this human race. Here is true peace, here my heart knows calm. Safe in your soul, bathed in your sighs. Wanna stay right here 'till the end of time, 'till the earth stops turning. Gonna love you until the seas run dry. I've found the one I've waited for."  
  
"I've found the one I've waited for," she whispered, raising her hand to her mouth with one hand and flicking off the radio with the other.  
  
She knew the decision she had made was horrible, but there was nothing left to do. She refused to see him die because of her. He was the most wonderful person she had ever met, so understanding and kind and warm. He didn't deserve to be buried 6 feet under before his time. Yes, she knew it was the right thing to do. Nothing would change her mind that this was wrong. . . but she regretted every moment of it.  
  
"This is the moment when God expect me to beg for help, but I won't even try," she sang. "I want nothing in this world but myself to protect me. But I won't lie down, roll over and die. All I have to do is to forget how much I love him. All I have to do is put my longing to one side, tell myself that love's an ever-changing situation. Passion would have cooled and all the magic would have died." She forced a smile, even though she knew the words she sang weren't true. "It's easy, it's easy."  
  
She rose and began to change out of her costume. "All I have to do is to pretend I never knew him. On those very rare occasions when he steals into my heart. Better to have lost him when the ties were barely binding. Better the contempt of the familiar cannot start. It's easy, It's easy." She slowly drew her robe around her and sat down.  
  
"Until I think about him as he was when I last touched him. And how he would have been were I to be with him today. Those very rare occasions don't let up, they keep on coming. All I ever wanted, and I'm throwing it away." She sighed. "It's easy, it's easy as life. And though I'll think about him 'til the earth draws in around me. And though I choose to leave him for another kind of love, there is no denial, no betrayal but redemption redeemed in my own eyes and in heaven above. It's easy. It's easy. . ."  
  
She turned around and looked at the mirror, seeing a face that she wanted to destroy. "It's easy as a lie," she cried, lying her head down.  
  
She sobbed into the silk of her Japanese robe, turning it from red to crimson.  
  
"Why are you crying?" a voice said behind her.  
  
She straightened up and in the mirror she saw that it was Robert. 'Oh God. . .' her mind whispered. Right now she wanted no more human connection than a breif report that Robert had been miraculously killed, followed by Christian. . .  
  
'Christian. . . Robert will surly kill him if he ever finds out. You have to save his life.'  
  
She turned around slowly and smiled. "Hello darling," she forced out, hoping it sounded sincere.  
  
"I asked you 'why were you crying'?" he said, angrily, crossing his arms in front of him.  
  
"Oh, please forgive me. You startled me. I. . . was just thinking to myself. . . how I haven't seen you in such a long time and it. . . made me upset."  
  
"And who's fault is it that we haven't seen each other?" he asked again in the same tone.  
  
"I. . . it's my fault entirely, darling," she said, rising, not even thinking that she was wearing a robe. She pulled it around her tightly. "Please, don't be angry."  
  
He looked down at where the robe didn't cover her legs. "That's. . . all right. . . darling. . ."  
  
She bit her lip. This was certainly a situation she wanted to get out of. "I am certainly exhausted, my dear." She forced a smile, but he was still looking at her legs, walking closer and closer to her. She yawned. "I'm afraid that I'm going to fall asleep at any moment. . . like a narcoleptic."  
  
He nodded, not really listening to her. She moved away from him, careful to not get to close because she thought he was going to grab her. "We shall see each other tomorrow, I promise." She reached for the door. "Now, if you will excuse yourself-"  
  
He crept up behind her and grabbed her waist, kissing her neck harshly. She winced at the pain.  
  
"Darling, please," she started trying to push him off her, but despite what he looked like, he was strong. Powerfully strong. There was a power in him that scared her.  
  
"Please. . . please. . ."  
  
He clapped a hand over her mouth. "Shut up!" he said. "You are my fiancée, practically my wife! A wife is supposed to do everything her husband asks." He held her tightly.  
  
"No, no please," she said again, pushing him again.  
  
This time he raised his hand and struck her hard against the cheek. Dazed, she fell to the floor, tears falling.  
  
"I've heard about you. You and that. . . that boy," he spat. "Your uncle told me. . . told me everything. You whore, how could you do that to me?!" he screamed.  
  
She slowly looked up at him, her hand still on her cheek. Her chin quivered. "I. . . I. . ."  
  
"Silence!" he roared, picking her up from the floor and throwing her against a framed painting on the wall. The glass shattered and she screamed as she felt the shards cut into her skin. "I told you to be quiet!" he yelled.  
  
He slapped her again and she fell on a heap onto the glass. She could feel the wet blood on the smooth glass underneath her fingers.  
  
Satine did her best to keep her crying in check. He was so crazy right now. . . Who knew what he might do.  
  
"You belong to me!" he yelled, picking her off of the floor again. Her vision was hazy with tears, but she saw his face, full of burning rage. "You. . . are. . . mine!"  
  
The door swung wide open, knocking Robert in the back of the head. He fell against her, and then to the floor, unconscious.  
  
Satine backed up with wobbling legs and leaned against the wall, wincing with pain from the glass in her skin and fell to the floor beside Robert.  
  
------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: My muse is escaping me. . . these are getting worse and worse. . . maybe I'll have to do a rewrite later, but now it won't get much better.  
  
Songs used: 'All You Need Is Love' by Lennon and McCartney, 'Your Song' by Elton John, 'Gorecki' by Lamb, 'Easy as Life' from Aida. 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Satine slowly turned the key in the lock, apprehensive at what was behind it.  
  
He usually came home from work early in the middle of the week. They spent a few minutes in the bedroom together before HE went back again.  
  
She sighed as she opened the door. 'This is the road I took.'  
  
"Where were you?" Robert demanded angrily as she walked in the door.  
  
"I. . . I was taking a walk-" she started.  
  
"You're late! I come home at exactly 12, and you KNOW you're supposed to be here!"  
  
She rose her watch to her eyes and saw it was 12:03. "I. . . I'm sorry."  
  
He laughed. "Oh, you're SORRY, are you?" He slapped her across her face. Satine rose her hand to her burning cheek. "Why is it that my wife is a disgrace to me? You're never here when I want you to be!" He slapped her across the other cheek and she crumpled against the door.  
  
Satine blinked tears away as she took in a deep breath. It had all been a dream. No, she hadn't married Robert. . . not yet, at least.  
  
"I'm sorry, does that hurt," said a soft voice.  
  
She craned her neck to the side and sharply taking in a breath, saw Christian sitting in a chair beside her bed.  
  
"What. . . what are you-"  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked, taking her hand in his and kissing it tenderly. "It was Robert who hurt you, wasn't it? That bastard."  
  
She took her hand back and turned away from him. "Don't say that about my fiancé."  
  
"Satine, he BEAT you! Why would you stay with him?"  
  
"Just. . . just get out," she whispered.  
  
The was a pause, and then Christian said, "I'm not leaving you alone."  
  
"Christian-"  
  
"No." He went to the other side of the bed and touched her cheek. "I'm not leaving you."  
  
She sighed. "Harold probably knows you're here. . . he already told Robert about you. If he finds you, there will be nothing to save you. Just. . . just leave. Leave me alone, I'll be fine."  
  
He forced a smile. "If I go. . . who will be here to save you?"  
  
"I don't need anyone."  
  
"What about the next time he beats you? Chocolate won't be there."  
  
"Choc saved me?" she whispered.  
  
He smiled. "He brought you here, saw me by your door, and after 2,000 questions he left you with me."  
  
She laughed slightly, her eyes sparkling. There was a long pause, Christian staring into her eyes.  
  
"Please go," she whispered.  
  
He took a breath, dipping a cloth into the bowl on her night stand. He rung it out and put it on her red cheek. "I can't do that," he said. "I could never leave you."  
  
She closed her eyes, soaking in this moment. Harold had never helped her when a customer had 'shown their love'. He never helped her at all besides moving her from town to town, finding her a shabby apartment-  
  
Her thoughts clouded when she felt Christian's warm lips on hers. It felt so good. . . heat rose all over her body, thawing her cold heart. She reached up to touch his cheek and moaned when his arms wrapped around her.  
  
The appalling sound brought her back to her senses and she pushed him off her. "No," she cried, brushing tears away. She sat up in bed, pulling the covers up to her. "Please. . . please, leave me alone. Go away."  
  
"I can't go on with out you," he whispered. "We were made for each other, Satine. Don't you see? We were meant for each other!"  
  
"No, we weren't!" she insisted. "We're just a couple of kids with a crush!"  
  
He hung his head down. "Never knew I could feel like this," he started to sing softly. "It's like I've never seen the sky before. I want to vanish inside your kiss." He looked up at her, flashing her a smile that made her chin quiver and all her thoughts to disappear. His hand rose softly to her cheek as he sang again. "Seasons may change, winter to spring. But I Love You, until the end of time. Come what may. Come what may." His voice grew louder, and his smile wider. "I will love you, until my dying day."  
  
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, please don't do this now, Christian-"  
  
He sat beside her on the bed and held on to her hands. "Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place," he said cheerfully. "Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace. Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste." He kissed her hands. "It all revolves around you. And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide. Sing out this song, I'll be there by your side. Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide, but I love you, until the end of time."  
  
His face was hovering closely toward hers. "Do you like it?" he whispered, kissing her forehead. "It's yours."  
  
"You wrote me a song?" she asked, to herself more than him. He nodded. "No one's ever done that for me before. No one," she breathed, giving in to a smile.  
  
"I love you," he said unevenly.  
  
'I do too,' her mind whispered. She loved him more than life itself - more than her life. He meant everything to her, but she meant nothing to this world than another pretty face. How she longed to comply with his wishes and wear that ring of his forever. . . but they really weren't kids. Sometimes you had to do something you hated to achieve something of greater value.  
  
She closed her eyes and turned away from him. "I don't love you," she whispered. "I never did." She pushed his hands off of hers. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"  
  
"Because I know you love me back."  
  
"I'm telling you now," she looked him in the eyes and with all the strength she could muster, "I don't love you. I never did. By the end of the week, on Graduation night I'm marrying Robert."  
  
"Do you love him?" Christian whispered.  
  
She hung her head. "What does it matter?" she said.  
  
"It matters the world to me!"  
  
"I'm a creature of the underworld. I can't afford to love," she said slowly. "There, you got your answer. Will you leave me alone now?"  
  
He nodded. "I-" he choked on his words. He took in a deep breath, holding back his grief. "I'll follow you after Graduation. I'll object at the wedding."  
  
Satine lifted her head. "Wh-what? No, no Christian, he'll know it's you. He'll kill you for sure!"  
  
"Well, what do I have to lose?" he whispered, standing up and heading toward the door. "Take care of yourself."  
  
She watched him, as if in slow motion, as he shut the door. The sound echoed in her ear and she felt sick as she sank down in her bed. She rose her head to her hand, remembering all she had ever known.  
  
"I can't fall in love. . . I don't need love. . . It's all an act. . ." All her sad words echoed through her head. She was so lost back then. It was hard to believe that it was only a few months ago. Christian changed everything.  
  
"I. . . follow the night," she sang to herself. "Can't stand the light. When will I begin, to live again? What more could you're love do for me? When will love be through with me? Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming. . . ends."  
  
She set her head on her pillow and rose two fingers to her lips, still warm. How could a kiss be so good? How could life be so magically wonderful?  
  
'It really was love', she realized, sobbing. 'A whore like me had gotten the best dream imaginable and I threw it all away. All I ever wanted, and I threw it all away.'  
  
She raised her left hand to her face and scowled. It was all that was keeping her between misery and happiness - just a flashy, gold band with loads of diamonds. Why should a stupid ring control her whole life?  
  
She slowly lifted her head. It wasn't too late. . .  
  
Satine smiled, happily removing it from her finger and pushed the covers back, running in a red tank-top and black shorts out of the room and out of the shabby apartment.  
  
She scanned the parking lot, saw him about to get in his car. "Christian!" she yelled. He stopped suddenly and looked up. She saw tears dancing in his deep blue-gray eyes.  
  
"Never knew I could feel like this," she whispered, taking a few steps down the metal stairs. She gripped the banister and slowly descended down. "It's like I've never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss. Every day I'm loving you more and more. Listen to my heart can you hear it sing? Come back to me and forgive everything!" She arched her back and yelled it out to the sky, smiling deeply. She was in love. . . nothing was more important than love, nothing.  
  
Christian walked over toward the end of the stairs. She stood a step above him and reached out to touch his cheek. "Seasons may change winter to spring," she whispered, staring into his eyes. "I love you," she sobbed. "'Til the end of time."  
  
He didn't say anything for the longest time and she sighed. "Don't go," she whispered. "Don't leave me."  
  
A smile slowly swept across his face. "Where would I go?"  
  
She laughed as her arms wrapped around his neck and he spun her around the parking lot.  
  
----------------------------------------- Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: Ok, this took me a lot of effort. Please tell me if you like it(that's a stupid question, I know). Yeah! They're together!!!!! But it's not over yet(Don't you just hate that?)!!!  
  
Songs used: 'Come What May' and 'Come What May (reprise)' written by David Baerwald, 'One Day I'll Fly Away' written by Will Jennings and Joe Sample. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Satine bit her lip, trying to keep back her smile. Warm happiness was filling her entire body and wanted to close her eyes, ball her hands into fists and scream at the top of her lungs. She was in love. . . in love with Christian. Everything would be all right. They would marry and live happily ever after.  
  
Now, all that was needed was a plan to get them out of this town.  
  
She fingered the diamond ring, tracing every line and groove, memorizing it. She smiled, imagining how it would look on her finger in 10 years, in 20 years, forever.  
  
She hugged it to her and kissed it. "I love you," she whispered.  
  
There was a knock on her door and she turned around slowly, rolling her eyes. She had told Christian to go. . . but maybe he noticed he forgot something. She opened the door with a smile.  
  
"Hello," Harold growled, pushing past her, Marie close behind him.  
  
"Mail call." He slammed a letter down on the table and proceeded into the kitchen, opened up the freezer and stuck his left hand in the ice tray.  
  
"Oh, darling, it's not that bad!" Marie said in her fading French accent, flopping down on the orange tattered couch.  
  
"But it hurts!" he said, pulling out the ice tray with his hand still in there and leaning against the counter.  
  
"What happened?" Satine asked, hiding her left hand behind her back and slipping the ring off her finger.  
  
"Marie bit me!" Harold yelled, his face becoming bright red. "For no reason, she just bit me!"  
  
Satine put the ring in her pocket as she held the letter up over her mouth so he couldn't see her smile.  
  
"It was for a reason, you snoopy old geezer!" Marie said. She turned to Satine. "He tried to open your letter, dear."  
  
She looked at the envelope in her hand. "Who is it from?"  
  
"Robert," Harold said. "He wouldn't mind if I read it. . . he was the one who gave it to me in the first place!"  
  
"It's probably a love letter!" Marie said. "You don't go around reading other people's love letters. She's getting married soon, you know! She's not a little girl anymore."  
  
"Yeah, and you know who made that possible?" he asked irritably. "And until she DOES get married, you old woman, she's MY problem! And I have a right to know what's going on!"  
  
Satine scanned her eyes through the letter. No way was Robert talking about love, unless percentage of stocks were romantic. Something about flying to Italy. . . a business trip. . .  
  
Her eyes brightened. This was her chance! She read the paragraph over word for word, feeling excited even by his dull words.  
  
"Business takes me away from the country all this week, so our wedding will take place on Friday when I get back instead of that Thursday. Don't go out and party, I will call you at exactly 9:00 at night so be waiting by the phone. On Friday my chauffeur will pick you up in a limousine - be all ready. He will take you to the church and then it's off to France for our honeymoon."  
  
Satine started to laugh. It was all so easy. . . all so simple. . .  
  
"What's so funny?" Harold asked, picking his hand out of the ice tray to give it some air.  
  
"Don't ask her that," Marie said. "It's a PRIVATE love letter!"  
  
Harold scowled and stuck his red hand back in the ice cube tray. "Robert just doesn't strike me as the funny type," he murmured.  
  
"He. . ." she started quietly. Why should she live unhappy the rest of her life just for their sake? She lifted up her chin and spoke louder. "He wants me to meet him at the church on Thrusday. . . alone."  
  
"Alone?" Harold asked, his bushy brows pushed together.  
  
"He wants it a private ceremony. . . over quick."  
  
"Let me see that." He reached out for the letter, but was intercepted by Marie.  
  
"No Harold," she said, snatching the letter. Satine held her breath. If Marie looked down, she could easily see she was lying. "This letter is personal. . . if she says he told her to meet here there, then we should respect that. No questions asked."  
  
Harold frowned. "Don't you even want to know what it says?"  
  
"No."  
  
She handed it back to Satine, and she finally felt herself able to breathe.  
  
"Now, let's leave Satine alone," Marie said, pulling Harold with her.  
  
"But-"  
  
She silenced him with her finger. "Come on, we have an ice tray at home."  
  
Satine waited a few minutes after they left before she sat down at the kitchen table and started to draft a letter.  
  
Her pen flowed effortlessly on the paper and at once she knew that this was the right decision, she'd never been more sure. In 2 days, they'd finally be out of here and be together.  
  
Dear Christian,  
  
Just thinking about you and I get butterflies in my stomach. I miss you so much, even though I just saw you this afternoon. My darling, after everything was laid out I thought it was impossible for us to even dream of being together, but not now. Not now! I have found a way for us to be together. . .  
  
----------------------------------------- Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: Ok, this took me a LONG time to write, and such a little bit of it, too! Thanks to Stacie for yelling at me to write this, so it's all to her you have a chapter 15.  
  
Songs used: -none- 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The days seemed to slow down as they countdown for graduation approached to a few days. The 'senioritis' at Montmatre High spread like wildfire, while teachers got irritated at everyone's anxiousness.  
  
But Satine and Christian. . . they had different reasons to be anxious. Since Satine had found out Harold had spies looking out for her, she kept her distance from Christian, with nothing but a smile or a wink in the hallways.  
  
But after school on Wednesday, the day before graduation, Satine caught his eye and led him behind the school.  
  
The air was turning warmer after the pathetic California winter, and the sun was high above the branching trees. Behind the school, there was a small woods with a path made up of a dried up stream where the elementary schoolers used to explore nature, the middle schoolers used as their trash can, and high schoolers used to escape.  
  
The lovers found a space away from the path, surrounded by trees. The space was clear save for some pine needles and leaves around the edges, where someone had pushed them away.  
  
Christian sat with his back against a tree trunk and Satine sat in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist as he kissed her neck.  
  
"I love you," he whispered.  
  
She snuggled into his chest and caressed his cheek. "Do you know how much I love you?"  
  
"I think I have an idea," he said, catching her hand and kissing it.  
  
She looked into his eyes for a long time, searching what was behind them. "No you don't," she said, smiling. "You and I both don't even know half of it."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"It's not. . . lust, or an infatuation. . . but love. If I've ever tried to imagine what love would feel like. . . I would never know how great it really is. All my dreams I had before don't measure up to what I'm feeling when I'm around you."  
  
He leaned in and kissed her softly. "You're scared, aren't you?" he whispered.  
  
She traced her finger along his jaw. "Yes," she said quietly. "You're willing to give up all you've ever known. . . your happiness, your freedom, your friends and your family just to be with me and I have. . . nothing. I can give you nothing."  
  
He didn't say anything for a moment, just staring at her as the wind played with her hair. He pressed his forehead to hers. "You have given me freedom," he said, lifting his head. "You have given me happiness. All I've ever wanted."  
  
He smiled. "While I close my eyes and think of you. . . I feel like I belong. When I first saw you in Calculus a couple months ago. . . I knew. There was something about you. . . and I couldn't breathe, and I said to myself, 'It's you'. And I knew I saw you before and loved you then as much as I do now. We met in another life a long time ago, saying beautiful words and stealing kisses. Our love had begun in another life and carried over in the next." He softly kissed her cheek. "I know we're all far from perfect. I know everyone wants to tear us apart, so I swear to love you here and now with every ounce of my soul, and loving you is my greatest dream. So rest, my love, within my arms, and know that my words are true." He smiled again, running his fingers through her hair. "I loved you before, I love you now, and all I want is you."  
  
Satine's gaze never strayed from his face as he spoke until a tears began to form and she blinked them away. She forced a laugh as she let them fall down her cheek.  
  
Christian rubbed the back of her neck with his thumb as he kissed her salty tears away.  
  
"I love you," she whispered, smiling at him.  
  
He touched her cheeks lightly with his fingertips. "Ditto," he whispered, kissing her full on the lips.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The day of graduation, the students had a half-day. As Satine drove home to get ready for the 5:00 ceremony, she couldn't help but think of her life. Nothing was ever going right. . . everything was always a mess.  
  
It was funny how love, the thing she always ran from, could change everything.  
  
She flicked on the radio and smiled at the song that was on. "Listen baby, if you need me, call me," she sang along, grooving in the drivers seat. "No matter where you are, no matter how far. Just call my name, I'll be there in a hurry. You don't have to worry. 'Cause baby there ain't no mountain high enough. Ain't no valley low enough. Ain't no river wide enough to keep me from gettin' to you."  
  
She turned into the parking lot and sang the chorus even after she turned off the car. "Ain't no mountain high enough," she sang to herself, shutting the car door with a bump of her hip and danced up the stairs. Her hand on the railing, she paused for a bit and turned around to look at the wind blowing in the trees. Yes, today was a magical day. . . nothing could go wrong as long as this day existed.  
  
"There you are!" Marie said, grabbing Satine's elbow and starling her. "I've been waiting for you. . . we need to get you ready for tonight!"  
  
Marie dragged her into their apartment and sat her on a stool in the bathroom as she curled Satine's hair.  
  
"You know, today is a big day for you," Marie said softly. "You're not only graduation from high school. . . you're getting married."  
  
Satine smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know."  
  
"I know that this marriage is under strange circumstances. . ."  
  
Satine thought for a moment. She could never in a million years be happy with Robert. But she whispered, "I know," thinking of all the bruises he gave her all ready, all the bruises he would have given her. Christian, on the other hand, would never lift a finger to her. He was the only one that could ever make her happy.  
  
"You know, you find someone you love. . . and you stay with them forever, no matter what anyone says," she said, looking at Satine in the mirror. "You don't live for anyone but yourself. . ."  
  
Satine thought for a moment. Did she know her and Christian's plan? "I know," she whispered.  
  
Marie wrapped another strand of hair around the curling iron. "Dreams can be fulfilled in other ways, you know. Money is not everything."  
  
Satine stared at her, her jaw quivering. "Marie. . ."  
  
She put the curling iron down by the sink and turned Satine around. "I read the letter. . . the one from Robert," she said. "Harold should have been the one to bite me. I'm so sorry. . ."  
  
"You knew I was lying?"  
  
Marie kissed her cheek. "Darling, in the past few months I've never seen you so happy. Harold and I have been so unkind to you, locking you up and forcing you to do things you don't want. . ." She hugged her. "You deserve happiness after so long."  
  
"Oh, Marie. . ." Satine said, crying.  
  
The older woman dug out of her pocket an envelope. "Here."  
  
Satine took it apprehensively. "What is it?"  
  
"Some money," she said. "And my best wishes. It's not much. . ."  
  
Satine didn't let her finish, because she jumped up and hugged her tightly. "Oh, thank you. . . thank you. Thank you so much."  
  
"Now. . . now stop it," Marie said, laughing. "You're going to make us both cry!" She pulled away, tears in her eyes. "Now, that boy better be good to you."  
  
"I know he will," she whispered.  
  
"I'm so glad." She smiled, wiping her eyes. "Now, I'm not done yet," she laughed. "Sit down."  
  
As Marie continued to curl her hair Satine closed her eyes. They both knew this was probably the last time they would ever see each other again, and she held the envelope close to her body.  
  
Yes, nothing could go wrong on this perfect day. . .  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Satine hauled her luggage and wedding dress into her car because she couldn't come back. . . Robert would be 'waiting' at the church. Marie gave her a wink as she promised that they'd be there at graduation.  
  
When she reached the High School, seniors milled around the inside of the building, waiting for the ceremony to start. Satine saw Christian right away, standing next to his friend Henry. Christian's hair was slicked back and he had on a suit under his red gown.  
  
They didn't have time to speak before they trooped in alphabetical order to the football stadium, where the ceremony took place.  
  
Satine was anxious, going over a checklist in her head as numerous students made speeches. She looked over her shoulder slowly at Christian, whose eyes were fixed on hers. His face showed the same expression as hers - anxious, impatient, but no fear kissed his face.  
  
"Why fear what's meant to be?" asked the student speaker. "All these questions we've been wondering all our lives. . . we still don't know the answer. But through the years and the many roads ahead, we will have the knowledge to know that they don't have answers, and they don't have to. So my friends, I ask you to learn to smile with no reason, learn to be happy for just another day, learn to love without knowing why. In all your paths ahead of you, I wish you good luck. Audience, I present to you the graduating class of 2002."  
  
The students jumped up from their seats as the sky was showered by a down pour of red caps.  
  
"Love you," Satine mouthed to Christian as she went to go meet Harold and Marie for the last time. Harold told her how proud he was of her, how beautiful she looked. . . she accepted his comments with a slight nod.  
  
"I. . ." she started, looking at them both. "I should go. . . don't want to keep Robert waiting."  
  
She hugged them both, and with tears in her eyes over her only family she had ever had, she went to go meet Christian.  
  
He smiled at her warmly as she came to her side. "Mom, Dad," he said. "This is Satine Desmer."  
  
"Hello," she said, smiling.  
  
Christian's dad and his brother, Jacek, were staring at Satine with folded arms.  
  
His mother held out her hand and said, "You MUST be the girl our little boy keeps going on and on about." She winked at her son. "She IS beautiful, Chritian."  
  
Satine blushed. "Thank you."  
  
Some one tugged at Christian's robes and he picked up a little girl with light brown hair. She sucked on her thumb and tugged on her ear as she leaned against Christian's chest.  
  
"And who is this?" Satine asked.  
  
"This is my little sister Nicole," he said, kissing his sister's cheek. "Can you say hello to her, Nikki?"  
  
She removed her thumb from her mouth for a moment and mumbled something.  
  
"She's shy," he said, kissing her head and giving her back to his mother.  
  
His mother nudged his father. "Aren't you going to say anything to your son's girlfriend?" she whispered to him.  
  
"Hello," he said coldly.  
  
Satine shivered. His father reminded her so much of Robert it was frightening.  
  
"Uh, mother," Christian started, "me and Satine are going to go out for a little."  
  
His mother smiled. "Ok, that sounds good."  
  
He leaned over and kissed his mother and Nikki.  
  
"What was that for?" she asked.  
  
"Everything," he whispered in her ear, hugging them. He nodded to his father and brother. "Goodbye."  
  
"It was a pleasure meeting you," Satine said, shaking hands with his father and brother and hugging his mother and sister.  
  
"Oh, the pleasure was all mine," his mother said, hugging her back. "You're welcome to come over any time."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Well. . . goodbye." Christian said, taking Satine's hand and smiling, for the last time, at his family.  
  
  
  
  
  
When they reached the parking lot, Satine jumped into his arms. He spun her around and kissed her, and before he let her down they were both dizzy.  
  
She let out a squeal as she unlocked her car and he followed her to the used car store. They cashed in Satine's blue car and Christian's truck, and after inspecting the lot, they picked out a small white car and bought it for a good price.  
  
After all their luggage was in the trunk and back seat, they settled into their new car.  
  
"This is it," he whispered, his hands falling to his sides.  
  
"This is it," she said, smiling.  
  
"There'll be no ties of time and space to bind us," he whispered, touching the side of her face.  
  
"And no horizon we could not pursue," she said.  
  
"We'll leave the world's misfortunes far behind us," they said together. "And I will put my faith and trust. . . in you."  
  
They leaned in for a long kiss, and drove out of the used car lot, toward their new future.  
  
----------------------------------------- Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: I just love that love poem stuff I rewrote at the beginning. . . aww, it made me wish I had someone to say it to me!!! Ok, I have ONE MORE left, so don't think this is the end.  
  
Songs used: 'Ain't no Mountain High Enough' by the Supremes, 'Enchantment Passing Through (Reprise)' from Aida. 


	17. The End: Overcoming It All

Satine slammed the door of their small white car, jingling the keys nervously in her hand. She slowly walked up the steps of their small blue house.  
  
"Hello!" their neighbor, Mrs. Jenkey, called to her, sitting in her rocking chair on her porch.  
  
"Hello," she called back, smiling at the old woman.  
  
She sighed. "Beautiful night, isn't it?"  
  
Satine closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the crickets sing and felt the warm breeze on her cheek. "Yes," she whispered, opening her eyes. "It's so beautiful."  
  
"Would you like some lemonade?" the old woman asked.  
  
Satine shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry. . . I can't."  
  
Mrs. Jenkey smiled. "Maybe another time."  
  
Satine nodded and opened the door to her house, not even having a reason to lock it. Crime was never a problem since they moved into the small town of Wilmington, North Carolina. It was so quiet and peaceful. . . the perfect little spot to get away from the city. The days were cool, the nights were warm, and wherever you went you had a view of the beautiful blue Atlantic Ocean.  
  
The neighbors were a family unlike Satine had ever known before - warm and sweet. They never asked where you came from, only asked where you were going. It was easy to blend into the handsome sea-side town. Six years had ridden off into the sunset ever since her and Christian had escaped from the loud California city. Six years of marriage was still in the honeymoon phase.  
  
Satine smiled as she touched their wedding photo. Just the two of them. . . no family, no friends. They were married after a small ceremony in Vegas, wearing what they had graduated high school in.  
  
"I just wanted to be with you," she whispered to the picture, kissing her finger tip and touching it to Christian's face.  
  
He was probably still grading papers at Wilmington High, the nearby high school. Christian taught senior English to pay the bills, but he couldn't hide his real passion - writing. Poems, stories, novels. They had boxes full of them.  
  
She went into the bathroom and turned the handles of the bathtub, squirting in strawberry-scented bubble bath.  
  
As Satine laid back in their porcelain tub, she sighed. She had gone over in her head all day at the playhouse nearly a thousand times what she was going to tell Christian. . . but she still didn't know. There were so many words in the world and so few that would be the right ones.  
  
Six years ago she had thought frequently of it. . . and now it was finally happening. But how would Christian react?  
  
  
  
  
  
Christian sighed as walked up the steps of his house, his briefcase in his hand. He had read about one hundred 'Romeo and Juliet' papers, and not one of them had yet to capture the essence of the play. To capture the love between them as so few could do.  
  
It had been six years. . . and yet he could still feel their love on that lit-stage so far behind them. Could still feel their love whenever he kissed her, held her, whispered her name.  
  
He set his briefcase next to the door and looked at their wedding photo hanging on the wall. It was such a small ceremony, and to anyone else it would have seemed like nothing, but to them. . . "I just wanted to be with you," he whispered.  
  
Satine came around the corner, wearing a short red dress and heels. She smiled as she leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. "Hello," she whispered, sliding his jacket off his shoulders and hanging it off the back of a chair. "How was your day?"  
  
"It was good," he said running his fingers through her wavy hair. "You look beautiful."  
  
She loved the way he looked when he went to work - a suit and tie. He wore glasses now, too, and slicked his hair back. "So do you." She kissed him again and took his hand, leading him into the small dining room.  
  
The room was dimly lit with candles. Two plates were set up with steak and vegetables and two glasses of pink wine.  
  
Christian pulled Satine to him for a long kiss, placing his hands at the nape of her neck. When they broke apart, he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers, "It's not our anniversary. . . what day is it?"  
  
She smiled. "A special one."  
  
"You cooked," he said, kissing the tip of her nose. "This MUST be a special occasion."  
  
She slapped his arm playfully and slipped out of his arms. "Stop teasing me, Mr. James."  
  
"Yes ma'am." He grinned, pulling out her chair and sitting beside her. "Darling, how was your day?"  
  
She looked down at her napkin and straightened it several times.  
  
"Darling?" he asked.  
  
"I guess you'll find out eventually. . ." she said, looking up.  
  
"Find out what?"  
  
"I. . ." She took in a deep breath. "There was a talent agent around the playhouse today. He. . . he offered me a role in a movie."  
  
Christian was speechless for a moment, and then his lips rose to a forced smile. He reached over to squeeze her hand. "Darling, that's fantastic! You've waited your whole life for an opportunity like this!"  
  
"Christian. . ." she whispered. "I told him no."  
  
"Why?"  
  
She squeezed his hand back. "I've never forgotten why we left six years ago. I know I said I wanted to be an actress. . . it was my greatest dream. But Christian, that was before." She rose from the table and sat on his lap.  
  
He closed his eyes. "Satine, I want you to do this."  
  
"No," she said softly, caressing his face. "I thought I wanted it. So many times I dreamed of it, did everything I could to get there. . . but I never felt complete. Never, until I met you." She smiled. "You're my greatest dream, Christian. I choose you."  
  
"It's not fair you should have to choose."  
  
"It is fair," she said. "If I wasn't here with you. . . I'd be with Robert, living my so-called dream. But I'd be nothing without you."  
  
"But-"  
  
She silenced him with a kiss. "I've had more fun on one rainy night when you were there to call my name and hold me tight, than a lifetime in this coastal scene just wishing you were here with me." She smiled. "If I had the chance to pick between being cold and starving and with you, or to be on a stage. . . I'd choose you. I'd rather be in love with you then anything in this world. YOU are my greatest dream, Christian. And I just want to be with you."  
  
He kissed her slowly. "I love you, so much. . ."  
  
"Ditto," she laughed.  
  
"How did I ever get so lucky?" he whispered, running his fingers through her hair. "I can't believe that you picked me."  
  
She bit her lip. "I have another. . . surprise for you." She stood from his lap and went into the kitchen.  
  
When she came out, she was holding something, and showed to Christian's face.  
  
He stared at it for a while, not knowing what to make of it. It was gray, looking somewhat like a thermometer, with a pink line in the middle.  
  
And then, suddenly, it hit him. He froze.  
  
"Christian?" she asked slowly, putting the home pregnancy test at her side.  
  
"It. . . it was pink," Christian managed to say.  
  
"Yes, it was." Satine nodded slowly. "Is that. . . is that alright?"  
  
He looked at her softly, rising from his chair and placing his hands at her stomach. "It's wonderful," he said, looking into her eyes.  
  
She let out a sigh of relief. "Really?" she asked.  
  
He nodded, and there was a small tear in the corner of his eye. "Yes."  
  
Satine fell into his arms.  
  
"It's pink," Christian whispered.  
  
"Yes it is," she said, smiling and hugging him tightly.  
  
"We're having a girl, then?" he asked.  
  
Satine laughed, tears covering her vision. "I love you so much. . ."  
  
Christian lifted his head and looked her in the eyes and smoothed her hair. "We've been through so much," he said, smiling. "And we overcame it all."  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
Disclaimer: All characters belong to me and my good friend Baz. And, um. Robert Duken is not the real son of a producer, I just made him up.  
  
A/N: Ok, NOW it's the end. I know it started out a little crazy and slow, but if you're reading this then you made it through it all!!!! I hope you enjoyed it as mush as I enjoyed writing it! And. . . there Stacie!! Now you can't say that everything I write has a sad ending!!!!!!!  
  
Songs used: 'I'd Rather Be In Love' by Peter, Paul, and Mary. 


End file.
